Kevin Systrom @kevin Twitter profile

Last Seen Profiles

@alsondecarnaval

@CallumJ89495442

@ShoIzumitani

@KINGDOMHEARTS

@DamianJ44994889

@CurtisM40613460

@jingtng

@ButlerCC

@Spencer66558812

@menthaam

@AtyAdejo

@SQuittner70402

@Cardinal_Man_

@KatieQu20041755

@police_haryana

@SimonReungoat

@aneyefordetail1

@C4MARONCIN

@IGB15uRiseStill

@guutarano1

@tqtozs

@Path_Games

@Robblake4

@Shotway2

@Rhino_Records

@TheAiShow3

@SumExotic3253

@RuzAvril69987

@LlamasArePink

@JackermanDev

@banshee44mods

@MukeshP27754317

@mado87514964

@Vodacomcongo

@StephWr34983706

@sharkosaurfps

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

6 years

The @instagram journey is one I won't forget. It started by building simple products that solved universal problems. Now eight years we look back and are proud and grateful to have been part of that journey. Thank you to the entire community as we move on for now.

498

917

6K

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

Today we're launching See how quickly #COVID19 is growing in each US state. Rt is the metric we need to watch.

Rt COVID-19

Up-to-date values for Rt — the number to watch to measure COVID spread.

rt.live

190

727

2K

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

There's one metric that can help us through the next few months. For your Sunday reading, here's what it is, how to calculate it, and what it looks like by US State

78

548

2K

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

1 year

It's been a minute, but @mikeyk and I are back at it with Artifact - a personalized news feed using the latest ai tech. Visit to sign up and join the community.

166

161

2K

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

6 years

Understanding how time online impacts people is important, and it's the responsibility of all companies to be honest about this. We want to be part of the solution. I take that responsibility seriously.

55

413

1K

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

1 year

@zebulgar @bryce 👋🏻

28

15

1K

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

It's been about a week or so using Twitter actively. It's been so useful for building and has enriched the whole experience. Hadn't given it enough time since signing up in 2006 so just want to give credit where it is due to @jack and his team.

Rt COVID-19

Up-to-date values for Rt — the number to watch to measure COVID spread.

rt.live

31

70

987

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

6 years

Rolling into our big announcement today at 10am…

72

206

852

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

If you're cooking more, make a simple gantt chart to plan backwards. Helps get dinner on the table on time!

57

61

838

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@ElleArmageddon Day of instagram launch brought the site down for an hour because we forgot a favicon - system tried to send us an email for every 404 😬

8

77

817

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

Just launched a brand new - state detail pages and a much improved model. We built this so we can see how our actions have helped or hindered the spread of #COVID19 . Short answer: the current trajectory is very concerning.

Rt COVID-19

Up-to-date values for Rt — the number to watch to measure COVID spread.

rt.live

362

161

779

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

1 year

Excited to announce @ARTIFACT_News is now open to everyone (no waitlist or signup required). We also added a bunch of new features: profile visualization, popular in your network, and more. Read about it here

Artifact: Now Open to Everyone

Starting today anyone can download and use Artifact — no more waitlist and no phone number required.

medium.com

56

70

604

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

6 years

We announced that we hit 1 billion monthly actives today on @instagram - it’s such an awesome milestone and I couldn’t be more thankful for our amazing community.

99

74

501

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

Following my last article, here's a different way of looking at COVID19 in each country and state. The implications require swift action.

42

171

498

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

6 years

It's true. RT @TechCrunch : Code buried in Instagram’s Android app reveals a “Usage Insights” feature that will show users their “time spent”

28

174

430

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

Over the last two weeks, I created a model that attempts to track and forecast COVID19. After sharing it privately, I decided it's worth sharing more publicly. I'll be posting more thoughts in the coming days.

25

111

396

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

6 years

This extends all the work we've done trying to make everyone's experience online more positive through increasing kindness and eliminating bullying

87

82

367

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

1 year

It's not a launch without a little sizzle reel 🌶 Come join us in @ARTIFACT_News !

48

29

371

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

6 years

We also announced IGTV - long-form vertical video from your favorite Instagram creators. It’s a standalone app but also available from within the IG app itself. It’s the next step in the evolution of Instagram, hope you enjoy!

137

45

328

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

6 years

We're building tools that will help the IG community know more about the time they spend on Instagram – any time should be positive and intentional.

30

84

341

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

For those of you that are interested in the statistics and code used to generate this, I've made the notebook available here:

26

40

308

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

6 years

Tap tap, this thing on?

50

38

259

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

I’d like to share a bit more about the model now up at - it’s extraordinary what help we’ve received from experts to improve this measure. (1/many)

29

42

268

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

6 years

Have a listen to this podcast about scaling Instagram. Was a blast to record, hope it’s a fun listen!

59

22

223

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@Chris_Said @seanjtaylor I was once told it was inappropriate for me to bring my own analysis to a meeting - so thank you ☺️

3

8

214

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

3 years

This holiday I'm partnering with @RayDalio and friends to give away 20,000 $50 charity gift cards. There are no strings attached - our hope is that you experience the joy of giving. Visit to claim yours. Let's #RedefineGifting

187

23

183

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

8 months

Today, we're launching Links on Artifact. Now you can use the app to discover more than news - anything interesting on the web - powered by AI. Download the latest to check it out.

Introducing Links

Artifact is expanding beyond articles with a new links tab. Users can share interesting links and view a feed of links based on interests.

medium.com

23

12

192

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

I've updated the algorithm and notebook that tracks the COVID19 effective repro number (Rt) by state. Still more to improve but v interesting changes to the data. View the notebook for the latest.

14

24

159

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

5 months

Really beautiful work by the team! Excited to get this out there!

ARTIFACT

@Artifact_News

5 months

Today we’re launching a new homepage at that showcases the evolution of our product. Learn more about Artifact’s AI-powered feed and how it keeps you up-to-date with the information and inspiration that matters most to you.

11

14

144

28

8

158

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

6 years

Opened an SF office today for @instagram - great to be back in the city 🙌🏻

36

9

136

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

1 year

New to Artifact: Follow Writers. We all have our favorite writers, now you can follow them on Artifact. We'll prioritize their articles at the top of feed. We believe in helping writers build an audience and giving more control to users.

Follow Writers on Artifact

As of today, you can follow writers on Artifact. If you follow a writer, we will prioritize their articles in your feed.

medium.com

23

12

130

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

Still don't get the char limit though. 😂

10

1

127

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@balajis I was thinking the same thing today. Apparently there’s some precedent from early 1900s polio outbreaks. I’ve always thought of the United States as one, but over the past week it’s started to feel far more like a series of independent nations

21

12

120

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

Just updated using latest case data and algorithm.

Rt COVID-19

Up-to-date values for Rt — the number to watch to measure COVID spread.

rt.live

14

17

102

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

Also, if you're interested we've open-sourced the model and you can see how it works here:

GitHub - rtcovidlive/covid-model

Contribute to rtcovidlive/covid-model development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

29

8

92

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

6 years

Such a cool project by inspiring thought leaders like @raydalio and @benioff – can't wait to see what you guys do!

Ray Dalio

@RayDalio

6 years

Excited to share this big news during World Oceans Week. I hope you’ll check out this video showing what we’re doing with OceanX and join the mission by following @oceanx . Proud to partner with @Benioff @BloombergDotOrg @JimCameron @WHOI and many others.

4

25

136

27

7

89

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

6 years

Going live with @mikeyk on the @instagram ig account to talk new products and features today—tune in at 11:15am Pacific!

27

5

79

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

1 year

Today we launched a summaries tool on Artifact. For those with info overload, this is a great tool to have the context you need more quickly before diving in more deeply.

ARTIFACT

@Artifact_News

1 year

Now available on Artifact: Summaries Tool. Use AI to summarize articles before diving in and reading. For fun we even added different summary styles (emoji-only, Gen Z, poem, etc.) Read more in our blog post here.

8

10

75

23

6

88

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@marievanhaecke There’s an important word in my bio that’ll show I’m not the one to ask 🙏🏻

6

0

86

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

Updated US State #COVID19 snail charts - MI/NJ still very troubling.

26

19

80

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

6 years

As someone who gets at least one a month, this is big: New Drug Offers Hope to Millions With Severe Migraines via @NYTimes

17

6

77

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

5 months

This year I've worked with @RayDalio and others to give away 20,000 $50 charity gift cards. Grab one and direct the gift to a charity of your choice. This holiday, instead of giving more stuff, let's focus on giving to those most in need. Get your 🎁 here:

33

12

79

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@ianbremmer Actually, the US is more like a collection of mini countries each with its own epidemic timeline, case and death count. A truer comparison would look at region vs region. I suspect ny looks bad on a per capita basis

5

3

72

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

It's late, so more tomorrow but quick summary: new model up at - more accurate, more resilient to reporting spikes, etc. Model source notebook in footer.

Rt COVID-19

Up-to-date values for Rt — the number to watch to measure COVID spread.

rt.live

10

15

68

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@ElleArmageddon Said we. Should’ve said I. #ownit

0

72

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

How unexpected math drives our behavior during this crisis – a new post

17

21

66

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

Lots of folks were asking about plotting defaults in my last post. I've added my defaults file to the repository so you can have yours render the same way

GitHub - k-sys/covid-19: A collection of work related to COVID-19

A collection of work related to COVID-19. Contribute to k-sys/covid-19 development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

6

13

68

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

7 months

Last week we launched Links on @Artifact_News and the reception has been amazing. I wrote a short links post detailing how the machine learning behind links works

34

10

59

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

New model run is up - VA, PA and CT all changed to be far more reasonable descriptions of their situations. Missing data at src manually corrected and now fine. NY showing an uptick but likely noise and short-lived.

31

4

57

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

18 years

just setting up my twttr

7

34

57

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

A challenge w/rt model is that it considers all data at once, not sequentially. This means recent values change in light of new data (more accurate). However it can be jarring if you expect to see a single new value each day. How do you resolve?

18

3

54

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@Harsh_Mkw @david_perell I thought the same thing about square photos. Relaxing that led to enormous growth.

4

61

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

Lots of interest in US state breakdown - I'll be updating the Covid19 US state chart here every day

17

18

59

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

State detail pages give you a closer look into what's actually going on. Take Arizona, for instance: You can see that reopening lines up almost exactly with a pivot in implied infections

Arizona Rt

Up-to-date values for Rt — the number to watch to measure COVID spread.

rt.live

21

5

54

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

I approve this message 👌🏻

The Critical Variable in Keeping Coronavirus in Check

Governments across Europe and in the U.S. say they have driven down a key coronavirus variable to levels that suggest lockdowns are containing the spread of the deadly virus.

www.wsj.com

6

10

57

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

Now you can see new cases by date on - just click show new cases when you hover over any state's graph

9

13

56

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

ProTip: you can always download latest model run as a csv from link at bottom of the page. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the data!

Rt COVID-19

Up-to-date values for Rt — the number to watch to measure COVID spread.

rt.live

5

6

53

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

11 months

One of the most requested features on Artifact now available!

ARTIFACT

@Artifact_News

11 months

Today we are launching keyword blocking, a new feature that gives you more control over the stories you see in feed and the push notifications you receive. Read more in our blog post here.

2

7

39

21

8

42

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@thedrbits @mikeyk @ElleArmageddon Me and mike

0

50

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

Of course no model is perfect (but some are useful). We’ll continue to improve the work with the help of experts. Source in the form of a notebook is listed in footer of site.

16

4

41

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

First, the measure of Rt is now backdated to probable onset time not report time. This smooths out reporting irregularities (no reporting or over reporting) but it also gets much closer to the actual growth of cases that is the basis for Rt

8

4

41

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@mohitify Definitely

5

0

43

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@rabois No one’s in house arrest. even if you remove lockdown you still have ppl living together - doesn’t fix issue. Not surprising that was true in China because they were in lockdown so makes sense fewer transmissions out of home. Nothing about this suggests we’re better opening up.

4

0

39

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@herf Well be marking important moments on graph

3

2

40

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@michelle_mourad @Benioff @Bob_Wachter @UCSF @UCSFHospitals @jglassman I’ve plotted the same one here - but it’s important to index them all to the same cases and when they crossed that threshold for legibility:

6

17

37

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

Finally we now layer in uncertainty where values used to be hard coded. We don’t know what the serial interval is but we do know its distribution. Adding this in expands the credible intervals in an honest way

11

3

35

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

Second, the previous formula walked forward in time rather than considering all data together. The new model looks across time and finds the most probable explanation for the data given the model. This should lead to less variance (stats nerds: smoothing vs filtering)

9

2

35

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@penelopeonthego @ptraughber Science chose it :/

1

0

33

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@maninblack63 @KellyCanuckTO Not true. The method relies on relative case reports day over day not accurate absolute counts.

6

1

33

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

Note that yesterday used a slightly different algorithm so charts will look different. Ultimately we decided to stick with the exact algorithm in the notebook for consistency's sake. We will flag if that changes and what changes going forward.

6

3

26

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

Awesome work by @mikeyk and @kaitlyntrigger

Mike Krieger

@mikeyk

4 years

Really excited to see folks take the SaveOurFaves source code and build local versions: London: Singapore: Toronto: Erie, PA: If anyone else has built one, let me know!

6

9

51

13

1

27

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@adamfeilmeier @omniplan but it’s too expensive imo - they should release a basic version for free or minimal $$ would help so many

4

1

26

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

18 years

Eating an Ikea hotdog

2

11

21

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@dens @DarkSkyApp If I recall they published their methodology and the graphics over the map are transforms (mesh grid scales) on the gpu. If that’s the case they’re just scrubbing and rendering gpu output. It’s been a while since I read the doc but that’s my best guess

3

0

25

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@insanedreamer Actually we use a 9 (!!) day centered Gaussian. Not perfect but helps see clearly

2

1

25

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

This is important because Rt is derived from the changes in new cases - if you want to know why Rt moved, just click in and you'll see how the data influences the metric.

6

3

22

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@nrmarda @aginnt Your comparison via analogy to that other case makes little sense. I am simply implementing a paper written and published by epidemiologists. Also, if that disclaimer isn’t humility I don’t know what is. It’s exactly how this works.

1

0

24

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

6 years

@ariehkovler Timely I suppose.

5

3

19

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

18 years

Walking to my car

1

6

16

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

If you’re wondering about today’s CT jump on it’s an accounting change that does not reflect an actual increase in their Rt.

7

2

17

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

18 years

eating at happy donuts. mmmm blueberry donuts.

3

7

16

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@mkarpitski All charts are matplotlib/python. The trick is choosing font, colors and weights. I have a lot of room to improve but I think they came out better than the defaults (which are horrendous!) the other trick is to use the retina command to render at 2x - the default looks blurry

5

0

19

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@DavidSacks Cc @mikeyk yes - working on it!

2

0

18

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@fmanjoo It’s been so interesting watching testing rates climb so observed infections are climbing but the truth is it’s just because of testing increase

5

1

17

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@avibryant I often think about how not being perfect a week ago actually led to the improvement. (People reached out, volunteered time, etc etc)

0

1

18

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@apaxon @twiecki Agree testing introduces bias - but v hard to control for. Lmk if you have ideas. Still think points stand regardless. Imperfect doesn’t mean wrong. No precision guaranteed here. If anything China and Korea over test and us under tests so the point is even stronger

7

0

17

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

18 years

Sitting with jack and Noah sipping on a tea

0

6

14

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@maninblack63 @KellyCanuckTO The ones the wrote the paper it’s based on

1

0

16

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@jeffmli Self taught would be a stretch but I only got so far as freshman cs at Stanford. So classes yes up to that point. Best way to learn something new is have a problem you want to solve but can only solve if you learn said thing. Feels like unlocking a level in a game.

8

0

16

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@donnellymjd Michael, I generally agree with your points and we've been working on a way to deal with them. I'm curious how you'd suggest improving the approach.

2

0

13

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@DellAnnaLuca Noisy data doesn’t mean inaccurate. The entire field of Bayesian statistics exists to deal with these kind of uncertainties

0

14

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@bryce @nw3 How tall? Asking for a 6'5'' friend.

1

0

13

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

6 years

@bryce All good. Just want to make sure we launched what I thought we did ;)

4

1

14

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

6 years

@ThePerezHilton @instagram Josh raised a good point at the q&a that creators monetize in many ways which is why we allow links in the description from day 1. We don’t have ads yet so there’s no share to speak of. If this grows I’d imagine that’d change.

10

3

12

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@yashpatodia @donnellymjd Just did a large update to the model that addresses many of these concerns. Haven’t packaged up the work enough to share but has some interesting effects on Rt

2

12

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@selfprime That’s something experts are debating now. Will do my best to incorporate. It’s a distribution

1

0

12

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@jamescham Fiddling??? More like struggling ;)

2

0

11

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@smarty @html5cat I was never a PM - was in marketing and corporate development. Tried to be a pm and was turned down

2

0

12

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

4 years

@NateSilver538 Seems like huge day of week effects. Possibly less noisy than it looks

2

0

11

Kevin Systrom

@kevin

6 years

@bryce What pattern is this? Boom and layout still exist externally. Direct has an out version. This one we just started where we ended with others: in and out.

4

0

10