The digital landscape is evolving continuously. With many interesting statistics and facts about the internet still unearthed, the internet can be used in many ways than one can imagine.
The internet is a fascinating and phenomenal creation and probably the most marvelous modern marvel. The internet was originally a military-funded experiment back in the 1960s that sought to connect computers to one another.
Born out of the need to connect, join forces, share data, and learn all that data, the internet has taken root in humanity. Today, billions of users share their thoughts, feelings, and resources with the online world. It is hard to imagine life without it for all generations.
With internet users continuing to grow at an annual rate of more than 4 percent, the current market trends suggest that two-thirds of the world’s population will be online by the middle of 2023.
The backbone of modern-day civilization, the internet is advancing at an instantaneous scale. To help our readers comprehend the size, impact, and purpose of the internet as an entity, we have sourced some of the most notable data that will offer a closer perspective on the world of the internet. Here is a comprehensive list of some of the most intriguing statistics and facts about the internet.
Table of Contents
I. General Statistics and Facts about the Internet
The next step in the evolution of human knowledge is the internet. A modern-day library, the internet houses far more information. It is widespread across the globe and is one of the most iconic technological achievements. While there are many continents that are entirely covered by the internet, some countries do not have them. Below, we have listed some popular general stats about the internet.
- There are 5.25 billion active internet users today.
- Across the internet, there are more than 1.92 billion websites online.
- There are over 198.4 million active websites on the web, globally.
- Around 7 million blogs get published every day on the internet.
- A majority of the world’s internet users, approximately 92.4 percent, use a mobile phone to search online. Mobile phones account for more than half of the online time spent.
- Approximately 4.32 billion people use their mobile phones to go online.
- 47% of internet users use ad-blockers, globally.
II. Social media statistics
One of the most important activities on the internet, the number of social media users is increasing significantly. People spend a lot of their time on social media mingling with others. We have compiled some interesting statistics and perspectives on social media.
- Today, there are 4.65 billion social media users across the globe, which is equivalent to 58.7 percent of the world’s total population.
- The number of social media users grew by 326 million over the past year.
- With social media users growing rapidly, globally, the rate is rising at 7.5 percent per year. The average social media user uses 7.4 different social platforms each month.
- The average global user spends around 2 hours and 29 minutes on social media every day. Collectively, the world spends more than 10 billion hours on social media each day.
III. Additional Notable Statistics and Facts about the internet
Aside from all of the noteworthy facts about the internet, there are many more fun facts and statistics on a broader range of topics.
The internet is free, wild, and ever-expanding. This makes it full of surprises, interesting details, and fun facts. While getting to know the internet across the globe is an extensive journey, it is definitely one that ultimately pays off. While there is much more to the internet than just hosting, security, and advertisement, in this section, we have listed some of the more interesting statistics and facts about the internet.
- The modern-day internet was created in the year 1983.
- Electronic mail or email was invented in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson, who invented a new way to utilize the internet. The first email-like software was developed earlier in 1965. This 1965 piece of software allowed users to send messages on the computer for people to read once they powered up the machine.
- Emails are sent every second of every day and most are sent out as spam. In 2020, a staggering 306.4 billion emails were sent daily. This number is expected to reach 347.3 billion by 2023.
- The most popular activity for over 90% of users on the internet is using email. 90% of internet users use their email accounts, making it one of the most popular activities on the internet.
- The first music streaming website – Internet Underground Music Archive – was released to the public in the year 1993. It offered a place for independent artists to share their music around the world.
- A well-known platform today, podcasting was started in 2004. The first podcast ever recorded was called The Backstage Pass and it was hosted by Adam Curry and Dave Winer.
- The number of podcasts has skyrocketed in recent years. Today there are over 1.5 million unique podcasts available. 2020 was recorded as the most popular year for podcasts yet. The number of new podcasts is rising every year, more than the previous one.
- One of the web’s favorite websites, YouTube, is the most popular video-sharing website. Created back in 2005 by Jawed Karim, Steve Chen, and Chad Hurley, the first-ever video uploaded on YouTube was titled Me at the zoo and was posted by Jawed Karim.
- The internet has empowered people to work from home. Today 15% of internet users spend at least 1 hour of their time per week online.
IV. Conclusion
The world of the internet is massive. And the above-mentioned are just a tiny fraction of the wonderful stats and facts available on the internet. We hope the internet statistics will help you gain a better perspective of the digital landscape. If you are in search of in-depth insights about other interesting statistics and facts about the internet, you can check out this infographic article. The infographic can also be downloaded for free and used as a reference. So, make the most of it!
