Photo and video sharing service Instagram is still growing rapidly, despite having an established name that has been everywhere for more than a year and a half. The multimedia social networking service hit the internet in October 2010 and came to prominence when it was bought by Facebook for approximately $1 billion in April 2012. Since then, the number of regular Instagram users has escalated at an alarming rate, hitting 100 million active users in February and crossing 130 million in June. According to Mashable.com, the service has just hit another major milestone: 150 million active users.

Instagram released a statement announcing the new statistical milestone on Sunday, touting the versatile nature of the Instagram service as the secret behind its lightning-in-a-bottle success.

“Whether it’s documenting protests in Egypt, sharing the trip of a lifetime across the United States or snapping #petselfiez, this community continues to surprise us every day with your creativity, sense of adventure and unique perspectives on the world,” the statement said.

However, the massive growth exhibited by Instagram throughout 2013 has hardly been a surprise. In June, just in time to mark the 130 million monthly user milestone, Instagram expanded its offerings to allow users to share short videos. The addition was touted originally as an attempt to capitalize on the success of Vine, Twitter’s short-form video sharing social media app. However, longtime Instagram users were still happy to get video, and the additional service capabilities seem to have piqued the interest of numerous other users as well.

So where are all the new active Instagram users coming from? As the service has expanded, it has become more attractive to a wider range of people. For instance, when the app launched in 2010, it was only available to users of iOS mobile devices. When Facebook entered the equation, Instagram added support for Android phones and tablets. Today, more than half of Instagram’s active users are Android users, not surprising considering both the vast popularity of non-Apple phones like the Samsung Galaxy S4, as well as the ubiquitous nature of the Android operating system.

Similarly, the video service has encouraged new groups of people to make the Instagram leap, among them brands and celebrities. As Instagram becomes more versatile, it also is forcing users to take it seriously as a social media outlet that can be used to build a following. Vine, with its 40 million registered users, is still struggling to reach that level.