Sir David Attenborough has joined Instagram to share an urgent warning and broke the world record for amassing one million followers in the shortest time ever recorded on the platform in the process.
According to the Guinness World Records, the beloved environmentalist, historian, and broadcaster has become the fastest person ever to secure one million followers on Instagram after joining the platform to explain that “the world is in trouble.”
The 94-year-old joined Instagram to share an IGTV video at 2 am PDT. Just four hours and forty-four minutes later, the popular presenter already racked up over one million followers on the platform.
The world record for the fastest time to reach one million followers on Instagram was previously held by Friends actress Jennifer Aniston who hit the one-million mark just five hours and sixteen minutes after joining the platform.
As for Sir David Attenborough’s message, it was shared on his newly-created Instagram account by his account runners Johnnie Hughes and Collin Butfield who also worked with the environmentalist on Netflix’s upcoming documentary called A Life On Our Planet.
“Social media isn’t David’s usual habitat so while he’s recorded messages solely for Instagram, like the one in this post, we’re helping to run this account,” they explained.
In his video message, Sir Attenborough warned the viewers that “the world is in trouble” as he vowed to create more videos explaining how to deal with the problems we are facing.
“Hello my name is David Attenborough and I’ve been appearing on radio and television for the past 60 years but this is my first time on Instagram,” the 94-year-old said.
“I’m making this move and exploring this new way of communication to me because, as we all know, the world is in trouble.
“Continents are on fire, glaciers are melting, coral reefs are dying, fish are disappearing from our oceans, the list goes on and on.
“But we know what to do about it, that’s why I’m tackling this new way for me of communication. Over the next few weeks I’ll be recording messages to explain what the problems are and how we can deal with them.
“Join me or, as we used to say in those early days of radio, stay tuned.”
Replaced!