Jennifer Aniston has joined Instagram after previously insisting she would not have a social media account.

The actress’s first post was a recent picture of herself with her former Friends co-stars Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and Matthew Perry.

Along with the selfie, she wrote: “And now we’re Instagram FRIENDS too. HI INSTAGRAM.”

In under an hour, Aniston, 50, had more than 120,000 followers, and her first ever post had been liked more than 270,000 times.

One of the first replies to her post was from her The Morning Show co-star Reese Witherspoon, who wrote: “YASSSS!!! Welcome to Insta Jen!!!”

Actress Demi Moore welcomed Aniston to the social media platform on her own page, sharing a picture of the two of them together and writing: “WELCOME to Instagram @jenniferaniston!”

Fans of the star were thrilled to see her online, with many commenting “finally” in response to her joining the platform.

Others speculated over a possible Friends reunion – either with a TV reboot or a big-screen release – at seeing the six sitcom cast-members back together just weeks after the programme’s 25th anniversary.

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WELCOME to Instagram @jenniferaniston!

A post shared by Demi Moore (@demimoore) on

As Aniston launched her own page she was following 81 people, including her ex-husband Justin Theroux.

The Hollywood star has long said she would not use social media, and earlier this year she told Elle magazine: “The one thing I have is maintaining this little circle of sanctity that’s my own.

“If I’m sitting here posting something about my dogs or I’m Boomeranging my coffee mug in the morning, that’s just giving away one more piece of something that is mine.”

However, she appears to have had a change of heart, and in an interview with ET Online this week she said: “What you resist, persists.

“It’s something that is a part of our world now and it’s not going away.”