Jennifer Aniston joins Instagram, shares the first image of the Friends cast together

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...together since the 2004 finale

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Aniston joining social media for the first time briefly broke Instagram because she was adding so many followers per minute. Last week on The Howard Stern Show, Aniston revealed that she just had dinner with the entire Friends cast at Courteney Cox's house. Aniston's first Instagram post was from that dinner: A selfie of her, Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry. While some of the Friends cast have reunited in the past -- such as the 2016 tribute to James Burrows that brought five Friends cast members together -- there has been no public picture of all six Friends together since the show went off the air in 2004. UPDATE: It took 10 hours for Aniston to amass 4 million followers.

Jennifer Aniston becomes the most-followed Friend on Instagram in less than 12 hours

Aniston launched her Instagram account at around 6 a.m. PT Tuesday morning. By 5 p.m. PT, she has amassed 4.5 million followers. That's more than Courteney Cox's 4.1 million, Lisa Kudrow's 3.4 million, Matt LeBlanc's 3 million and David Schwimmer's 2 million. (Matthew Perry doesn't have an Instagram, but he has a Twitter account with 1.4 million followers.) Meanwhile, Schwimmer welcomed Aniston with a photo of Lego Ross and Rachel.

Jennifer Aniston soars past many other A-list actresses with her record-breaking Instagram splash

In less than 30 hours, Aniston has amassed 9 million followers. That's more than Jennifer Garner's 7.4 million, Julia Roberts' 6.8 million, Nicole Kidman's 5.5 million and Charlize Theron's 4.5 million and Shailene Woodley's 4.4 million. According to the Guinness World Records, Aniston also smashed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's record as the fastest Instagram account to reach 1 million followers.

Jennifer Aniston expressed unease with social media a few weeks ago, but now she's learning that Instagram offers easy and inexpensive publicity

Aniston has spoken about her aversion with social media in the past, including for this month's InStyle cover story. “They’re doing it through someone else’s lens, which has been filtered and changed…and then it’s ‘like me, don’t like me, did I get liked?’ There’s all this comparing and despairing," she said. But Aniston, who easily surpassed 11 million followers in less than 48 hours, likely joined Instagram to promote The Morning Show. "A celebrity on social media creates the illusion that your favorite stars are as within your reach as that girl who went to your high school and constantly posts motivational quotes (they do share the same Minions memes, after all)," says Elahe Izadi. "Newer celebrities have used platforms such as Instagram to build fandom. And A-list holdouts don’t necessarily represent a generational divide; 29-year-old Jennifer Lawrence is not on social media, just like 58-year-old George Clooney. But while some A-listers may not need social media to help them become famous, an elusive holdout like Aniston simply starting an Instagram account attracts plenty of positive attention and headlines. It’s an easy and inexpensive way to get publicity, which is especially useful when there’s a big project to promote. Julia Roberts joined Instagram in June 2018, and a month later, Amazon released the first teaser for her first TV series, Homecoming. Jake Gyllenhaal started an Instagram account in December of that year to confirm his role in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Nicole Kidman, who had a Facebook page, joined her Big Little Lies co-stars by creating an Instagram account in January 2018 after winning a Golden Globe for the series." Aniston is already doing publicity for The Morning Show, but having an Instagram account with millions of followers can be used to leverage her celebrity in her acting career.

ALSO:

• Jennifer Aniston reacts to breaking Instagram and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Guiness World Record on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
  Aniston responds on Instagram to ex-Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe's question on if Ross and Rachel are still together: "well we’re on a break"