For almost any question you have, the internet can find you an answer. We use it almost daily, for things as simple as finding a restaurant near us or researching complex topics to understand more about anything really. The power of the internet is vast, let’s look at five facts you need to know about the Internet.
The Internet Hit 5.1 Billion Users in 2023.
This year, the Internet hit another landmark, clocking in at 5.1 billion users and 64.4% of the world population.
In 1995, only 1% of the world had a connection. Fast forward nearly 30 years ahead, this number has grown exponentially, with the first billion users reached in 2005, the second billion in 2010, and third billion in 2015.
The Internet user growth rate has steadily inclined since the early 1990’s, this past year there was a 2% year-over-year growth rate. And while the rate of users is slowing down, this means that two-thirds of the world’s population should be online by the end of 2023.
60% Of Internet Use Is Mobile.
Of all internet users, 92% access it through a mobile phone, and the total active mobile internet users is roughly 4.32 billion.
The IoT has brought smartwatches, smart thermostats, wearable health devices, 3D printers, and more. With this growing trend of devices connecting to the cloud, it’s easy to see how the average user has three connected mobile devices at any one time.
Growing wearable technology and mobile trends have led to the prediction that there will be 29.4 billion networked devices and connections by 2030.
We’re even more connected than ever with smartphones, tablets, laptops, e-readers, HDTVs, and more, and will continue to be, which makes it no surprise that we’re spending more and more of our time on the web. By 2025, there will be over 1 billion 5G connections worldwide.
There Were 3 Zettabytes of Internet Traffic in 2020.
What is a zettabyte? One zettabyte is 3 trillion gigabytes. To put that into perspective, that means that every person on the planet uses 1 GB of Internet traffic daily or 32GB per month.
If you totalled all this traffic up, it would mean 325 million households watched Netflix non-stop.
With more data moving to the cloud and more users connecting with multiple devices, web traffic is blowing up.
As of 2021, there are approximately 1.82 billion websites in the world. Although, the size of the Internet is hard to gauge. In 2014, Google indexed 200 Terabytes of data, representing only 0.004 percent of the Internet. Basically, the Internet is more than ginormous.
Social Media Platforms Dominate Among Internet Users.
Of all internet users globally, 92% use a social media platform monthly. In 2022, there were 375,000 new users across social media platforms daily.
While Google has long dominated the primary search engine, younger generations are using platforms like Tikok as search engines. While this does not mean Google is going anywhere, it does mean that users are looking to receive answers through different mediums. Video content that gives users’ experiential responses to basic questions like what restaurants to eat at or where to travel is far more digestible than the currently written medium.
More Than 50% Of Internet Users Make E-commerce Purchases Weekly.
Buying online has become standard practice, with nearly 6 in 10 internet users purchasing something online every week. During the pandemic, with the closure of retail stores, online consumer goods purchasing totaled 3.6 trillion in 2022.
Buying online has always been challenging and more aggressive, with social media platforms streaming purchases, and anyone can set up an e-commerce shop.
The Internet is a massive and powerful machine, with a seemingly infinite number of users, data, and traffic. Smartphones, tablets, wearables are part of mobile and data trends that bring the power of technology into our hands. With the abilities the Internet brings into your everyday life, how will you use it to your advantage?
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