Between mid-2013 and mid-2014, the number of Instagram users between the ages of 16 and 64 around the world jumped from 15% of all global Internet users to 20%. In North America, the percentage is even higher (25%), and in Latin America and the Middle East and Africa, it's even higher than that (33% and 34%, respectively)!In other words, a lot of people are using Instagram, and it's one more place where you can build your audience and relationships that will help you spread your Authoritative Content even further.Of course, that doesn't mean that Instagram should be a top priority for every content publisher. While the audience of Instagram users is fairly evenly split between men and women (51% male vs. 49% female), the audience skews heavily toward younger people and people with average to above average incomes.Of those Instagram users who responded to a study by GlobalWebIndex and self-identified their income levels, nearly 80% were in the middle and top income quartiles. In fact, Instagram users were found to be 25% more likely to be in the top income quartile in this study. This is certainly important demographic data for brands and advertisers, and it can be important to content publishers, too.Perhaps even more important to content publishers is the demographic segmentation of Instagram users based on age. According to this study, 41% of Instagram uses are between the ages of 16 and 24. Another 35% are between the ages of 25 and 34. That means only 24% of Instagram users (fewer than one in four) are over the age of 34. Overall, teens are 50% more likely than average to use Instagram. Bottom-line, if your content is targeted to an older demographic, then Instagram should not be a priority for you for either direct or indirect promotion.The statistics from the GlobalWebIndex study show how popular Instagram is around the world based on its active user base, but it's important to look at these statistics in context. Separate research released earlier this year found that Instagram users are actually very active with nearly 220,000 new photos posted every minute. This isn't a site where people post a photo and disappear. Active users are highly engaged. Therefore, you need to make sure your content promotion efforts on Instagram are just a small part of your overall Instagram activities if you want to build relationships that turn into new audiences for your content.You can see more data from the GlobalWebIndex study in the infographic below.

Image: Jason Howie licensed CC BY-2.0