Justin Bieber
As if we needed further proof that everything Justin Bieber touches turns to gold, he has now given photo-sharing site Instagram the prized “Bieber Bump” by posting a single (not very interesting) cell phone picture.
Last night, the Biebs tweeted his very first Instagram photo of several cars on a Los Angeles freeway, along with the inspired caption, “La traffic sucks.” Bieber has already reeled in more than 11 million Twitter followers, so you can only imagine what happened when a new source of Bieber imagery was thrown into the mix.
As soon as the photo was posted, Instagram exploded. The site’s co-founder Kevin Systrom told TechCrunch that just minutes after the historic photographic event, Bieber was gaining about 50 followers per minute and the picture was getting one comment every 10 seconds or so. An hour later, Bieber (also known as “swagisme”) had gained 1,700 followers on Instagram, and by late this morning, he had nearly 4,800 followers. The photo itself has gained 814 “likes” and 903 comments, ranging from the usual proclamations of everlasting love to comforting affirmations that L.A. traffic does, in fact, suck.
Instagram is already a pretty popular site and boasts just under 7 million users, including a number of celebrities, but this kind of response to a post is unprecedented, says TechCrunch. Best of all, Instagram didn’t have to reach out to Bieber to get him to use the service—and is getting a load of free PR in the process.
