Let's face it, the Internet is an integral part of our daily lives. But how many of us are aware of the many Internet facts and Internet statistics that have all combined to bring the Internet to where it is today. Read ahead, these Internet facts and statistics are sure gonna intrigue you.
If you have reached this page, I need not say that you already know what the Internet is and how it is used. But there are millions of us who use the Internet and are so very unaware of the amazing Internet facts and Internet statistics that lie hidden behind this awesome medium. So brace yourselves, rest back on that easy chair, sip a drink, and enjoy reading the mind-blowing Internet facts and statistics that would amaze you.
Dotcom (.com) Facts
The dotcom has turned 25 this year, and was actually a short form for commerce as it was initially set up for the use of e-commerce websites.
There are 11.9 million e-commerce and online business websites, 4.3 million entertainment sites, 3.1 million finance-related sites, and 1.8 million sports sites.
The first dotcom company was Symbolics.
Initially, .cor was decided, but later .com was finalized to be used.
As we speak, there are about 250 million websites, out of which 80 million are .com.
All through the 1980s, just around a 100 dotcoms were registered, while in the 90s around 20 million came into existence. In the last 10 years, nearly 60 million dotcoms have been registered.
http://www.llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch.com is the longest website name online.
The world's most expensive dotcom is insure.com which was sold for $16 million.
53 billion requests for websites including dotcoms are logged every day.
The most popular word used in domain names is 'home' (1.2 million & counting).
The dotcom domain is now a stage for a $400 billion annual economic activity.
There are nearly 4 million domain names that are registered each month.
Internet Statistics by Country/Continent
Continent Usage
Asia 38%
Europe 29%
North America 21%
South America 8%
Africa 3%
Australia 1%
Country Population Total Users Penetration % of World Users
China 1.34 bn 360 mn 30% 21%
United States 307 mn 228 mn 75% 13%
Japan 127 mn 96 mn 76% 5.5%
India 1.15 bn 81 mn 7% 4.7%
Brazil 199 mn 67 mn 34% 3.9%
Germany 82 mn 54 mn 66% 3.1%
United Kingdom 61 mn 47 mn 77% 2.7%
Russia 140 mn 45 mn 32% 2.6%
France 62 mn 43 mn 69% 2.5%
South Korea 48 mn 37 mn 77% 2.2%
Internet Statistics: United States
In the United States, 228 million out of the 307 million population use the Internet. That means that 3 out of every 4 people use this medium, and are connected. The United State accounts for around 13% of the world's Internet usage, and as we all know, is the place where the Internet actually started.
Internet Facts for Kids
4 out of every 6 kid's parents have little or no idea what their kid surfs on the Internet.
Kids who use the net do so for an average for an hour everyday.
87% of kids aged 12 to 17 use the Internet in the United States.
40% teenagers receive a request online for personal information.
Over 15% children in the United States are confronted by a stranger online, for some reason or the other.
Do read on Internet safety tips for kids.
Interesting Internet Facts
The Internet is more than 40 years old.
In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee coined the phrase 'World Wide Web' (www).
Mosaic, the first web browser arrived in 1993.
18 countries still do not have Internet access.
Less than 20% of the world's population surf the Internet.
70% of Internet users are men while 30% are women.
Roughly, there are around 15 billion devices connected to the Internet.
Every 10 seconds there is a cybercrime committed.
The late 80s experienced the first Internet worms that crippled thousands of computers.
The first advertising banner on the Internet was put up in 1994.
The first speech recognition software called 'Hearsay' was developed in 1971 in India.
Current microprocessors contain about 10 million transistors.
1,693,000 terabytes of information is created and stored every year.
The first hard disk drive could hold just 5MB worth of data.
Fun Internet Facts
Xu Jinglei, a Chinese actress has the most popular blog in the world.
80% of the pictures on the Internet are of naked women.
The QWERTY keyboard layout is around 130 years old.
The first mouse was made of wood.
It took www 4 years to reach an audience of 50 million, the same milestone was achieved by TV and radio in 13 and 38 years respectively.
Your cellphone that you use to connect to the Internet now, is a million times cheaper, a hundred times smaller, and a thousand times more powerful than a computer 40 years back (read: Internet Turns 40).
An Internet user blinks less than 10 times a minute, 20 being the average for a normal person.
And here is something that we all should take note of. It is believed that nearly 2% of the worldwide Internet users are depressed and suffer from the Signs of Internet Addiction Disorder. Now it has still not been established whether they are addicted to the Internet because they are depressed, or it is the other way round. Research on Internet addiction has a long way to go.
Read more on:
History of the Internet
When was the Internet Invented
How Does the Internet Work
Who Invented the Internet
The Internet facts and Internet Statistics are mind boggling and never ending. One could go on and on for days writing about them, but I have tried to list the most important and fun ones. We have a comments column here, so do feel free to add your comments about any noteworthy fact that I may have overlooked mentioning here.
Happy Internetting. Cheers!!!
By Clifford AGA
Published: 3/23/2010
