Instagram has today announced it now has more than 300 million monthly active users, a little more than four years after launch, with 100 million active users joining over the past roughly nine months.

Instagram will be rolling out verified badges to public figures, to make it easier for people to connect with authentic accounts.

“What began as two friends with a dream has grown into a global community that shares more than 70 million photos and videos each day,”says Kevin Systrom, CEO, Instagram.

“We're thrilled to watch this community thrive and witness the amazing connections people make over shared passions and journeys.

The company says it is focused on helping its users ‘discover' photos and videos, launching a People tab on the Explore page, which highlights interesting accounts follow, as well as improvements to the search function.

Instagram says its users were interested in following accounts of celebrities and public figures, but wanted a way to ensure these accounts were verified.

“Today, we're excited to announce verified badges for celebrities, athletes and brands, making it easier for you to connect with the authentic accounts you're looking for,” Systrom says. These badges will start rolling out over the coming days.

He says keeping Instagram authentic as it gets bigger is critical. “It's a place where real people share real moments. We're committed to doing everything possible to keep Instagram free from the fake and spammy accounts that plague much of the web, and that's why we're finishing up some important work that began earlier this year”.

Instagram has been deactivating spammy accounts from its site on an ongoing basis to improve user experience. As part of this effort, it will be deleting these accounts forever, so they will no longer be included in follower counts. This means that some users will see a change in their follower count.