Instagram Year in Review 2018

With 2018 almost coming to a close, we’d love to highlight some trends from the year and share all the different ways Instagram’s global community came to the platform to creatively express themselves and get closer to the people – and things – they love.

We’re heartened to see that sharing love and kindness is still a top priority for the Instagram community: the Heart Love Sticker by Arata was the most-used Giphy sticker in Stories, while Heart Eyes was the most-used Face Filter in Stories. In Feed, the ❤️ emoji was used in comments over 14 billion times. The happiest place in the world? Disneyland Tokyo, which saw the highest use of 🙂 in the caption!

Instagram is home to countless interests and communities; this year, ASMR was the top niche community trend of the year, with soap cutting, slime popping and makeup shaving continuing its steep rise in popularity. The game Fortnite also saw explosive growth with #fortnite being the fastest growing hashtag globally. K-pop’s dominance on social media is reflected by BTS “Army” being the top fandom community on the platform. The biggest viral dance challenge of the year was also born on Instagram, with #inmyfeelingschallenge, which included everyone from @theshiggyshow to @willsmith, coming in at number 1.

Last but not least, millions of people used Instagram to make their voices heard in 2018. The year’s top advocacy hashtags were #metoo (1.5 million), #timesup (597K), #marchforourlives (562K), demonstrating that Instagram can be a powerful platform for people to speak out and bring light to meaningful causes.

We hope this roundup inspires you to use Instagram to spread joy and kindness this holiday season.

Instagram’s 2018 Year in Review:

• Most Used Face Filter in Instagram Stories: Heart Eyes
• Most Used Giphy Sticker on Instagram Stories: Heart Love Sticker by Arata
• Number of times ❤️ was used in comments: 14 billion
• Happiest Geotagged Location in the World (highest use of 🙂 in the caption): Disneyland Tokyo
• Top Niche Community Trend: ASMR
• Highest Growth Hashtag Community: #fortnite
• Top Fandom Community: BTS (#btsarmy)
• Top Dance Movement: #inmyfeelingschallenge
• Top Advocacy Hashtags: #metoo (1.5 million), #timesup (597K), #marchforourlives (562K)