Internet Usage

I read some statistics, which I shall share with you, about the current state of the internet. Has any technology grown in usage as fast as the net has? Take these stats as proof that it has been a meteoric ride for the internet.

- Today there are currently 1, 720, 876, 288 users in the world population of approximately 6 billion. Given the short period of time the internet has been in operation, to have more than 1 in 4 humans using it is astounding. The internet usage growth rate for the past 20 years has been almost 400%. In 1995 only .04% of humans used the internet.
- Because of its huge population, China is by far the largest Internet country with 384 million Internet users, and 346 million broadband subscribers.
- Today approximately 77 billion E mails are sent
- There are approximately 164,000 blogs posted (and probably only a handful have any literary or informational worth) today
- Today there were more than 820,000,000 Google searches
- Though English is still the most common language used on line, with 27% of users, Chinese language penetration is now approximately 22%.. The next most frequently used internet languages are: Spanish 8%, Japanese 5 1/2 %, French 4 1/2 % and Portuguese 4 %

It's a given that the Internet today is the common medium for communication worldwide..or is it? The net has made the world smaller by improving communication. However, language differences make it a somewhat divided communication medium. It can also be said that in addition to being the world uniter, the net is the world divider preventing a one world view because of the many languages used on it.

The difference between Internet communication and most other communication technologies is that the user him or herself determines the content. There is no such thing as the last page or end with the internet. The user sets her or his or her own limits. So two factors making the Internet so appealing are the unlimited content and the wide amount of alternatives the user has when logging on. It is hard to propagandize or control users with the net because the platform is too big and is inexpensive or free in many cases.

I often wonder if there will be a new technology to come forward in my lifetime that will have a greater impact on the world than the Internet. The unqualified answer I conclude is a resounding NO.