Tom Hiddleston joins Instagram: Taylor Swift's boyfriend posts his Loki costume

Due to his highly publicised romance with pop star Taylor Swift, British actor Tom Hiddleston made ripples, if not waves, on social media after joining the photo-and-video-sharing app Instagram.

The “Thor: Ragnarok” actor attracted close to 500,000 followers after only 12 hours since joining Instagram Tuesday.

Hiddleston shared a photo of Thor’s nemesis, Loki, whose character he plays for the long-running Marvel movie franchise. His maiden Instagram post amassed some 122,000 likes and over 15,000 comments as of posting.

Noticeably, the 35-year-old actor is not yet following anyone on Instagram, even his popular 26-year-old girlfriend, Swift, who has 88.1 million followers on the same social media site.

Despite being social media savvy, Swift has never posted any of her photos with Hiddleston. A video featuring the trending celebrity couple during the May 2016 Met Gala in New York and a July 4 photo with friends are among those that document their romance.

The “Hiddleswift” couple are rumoured to have split up as they are spending time apart after a jet-setting romance that brought them to UK, Italy and Australia, among others. While Hiddleston is busy with the “Thor: Ragnarok” shooting, Swift is currently in New York.

Swift and Hiddleston were photographed kissing while hanging out in a rocky beach on Rhode Island early in July. Their whirlwind romance was born after Swift broke up with DJ Calvin Harris.

Critics said the celebrity couple's romance is nothing but a publicity stunt but Hiddleston claimed, "The truth is that Taylor Swift and I are together and we're very happy... It's not a publicity stunt."