8 Interesting Facts About the Internet You Really Need To Know

The internet is the primary driver of the global economy and our primary mode of communication. Its power is almost incomprehensible. Across industries and beyond borders, the reach of the internet develops and builds businesses and personal connection. Being aware of the latest facts and statistics can help you harness that incredible power — propelling you into the possibilities of the future instead of getting left behind.

Here are 8 Fascinating Facts About The Internet You Really Need To Know:

1. The Stats on Websites Will Amaze You

Can you guess how many websites there are as of 2017? Over 1 billion. Across the world, there are about 1.24 billion websites as of August 2017. With the very first website starting in 1991, that averages out to a growth of 47,692,307 sites each year!

The four top visited websites are:
  1. Google
  2. YouTube
  3. Facebook
  4. Baidu
The world’s number one Content Management System (CMS) is WordPress. Powering blogs, company, and individual sites since 2004, it has more than 20M active sites/58.8 market share including companies like TIME magazine, Forbes, and The New York Times.

2. Mobile is Increasingly Critical for Communication & Impact

The fact that mobile users are growing is not surprising to anyone, but the power is in the details.

Up more than 10 percent from 2016, the mobile users are now responsible for ~52 percent of all internet traffic. This makes it even more important to make sure your sites and all your pages are mobile-friendly.

What about sales? People are definitely spending a LOT of money on smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices — influencing more than $1.4 trillion in sales (in 2016 alone). A large majority of smartphone owners research purchases they are about to make in a brick and mortar store too. If you own a business, do you have an app? If not, you should. About 90% of the time users are on their smartphones, iPads, and other mobile gadgets — they are using apps.

Other notable mobile stats include:
  • Most users of social media do it with mobile — 2.55B of 2.79B active social media users
  • Engagement is much better on mobile apps than mobile web — up to four times
  • Mobile ad spend is growing —expected to reach 72 percent of all digital ad spend by 2019

The increasing impact of mobile is clear. Ensuring your sites and apps are dynamic, user-friendly, responsive, and representing your brands well is critical to connecting with your audience, expanding your reach, and increasing sales.

3. E-Commerce is a Trillion-Dollar Industry – and Then Some

When Amazon first launched, it was a fun smorgasbord filled with just about anything you could think you ever wanted. Who knew how much of an impact it would have in shaping the true nature of shopping culture? CEO Jeff Bezos, the forward-thinking technology and retail entrepreneur, had some truly incredible insight into the mind of the consumer.

Annually, as of 2017, the e-commerce industry accounts for approximately $2 trillion in sales. Of that, Amazon gets about 80 percent of those sales. But that still leaves a lot of money out there for grabs. One of the biggest challenges for business owners is conversion. Attracting a customer to your site is one thing — but getting them to click the “buy” button is more of a challenge.

Personalized recommendations affect conversion rates potentially up to 5.5 times. These “testimonials” are at the heart of Amazon’s business model. But there’s more…Site speed plays a major role in increasing your conversion rates, as well as the availability of free shipping, delivery speed, and discounts.

4. Global Social Media Use Increased 21% in 2017

Social media use continues to dominate online activity all over the world. With ~2.8 billion active social media users in 2017, the communication pathways across platforms are reaching demographics across ages, locations, and interests. Do you know and utilize some of the most popular ones?

Monthly active users:
  • Facebook — 2.16B
  • YouTube — 1.5B
  • Instagram — 800M
  • Twitter — 330M
  • LinkedIn — 260M
Which Social Networks Should You Care About in 2018? - #infographic

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Keeping up with the latest stats is important to help you refine your social media strategy to be the most engaging and to maximize your ROI.

5. Facebook Rules Social Media

From 2012 to 2017, the amount of active Facebook users has doubled. It is the first social network to climb over a billion. Hand-in-hand with smartphones, and to a certain extent other electronic devices, FB receives about 87 percent of its ad revenue from mobile. If you haven’t started utilizing FB ads in your marketing campaign, it’s time to reconsider and revamp company strategy.

6. YouTube is Video Central

Now reaching over one billion users, YouTube is the white-hot center of the video-watching public. The viewing habits of these one billion people amount to approximately six billion hours of videos watched per month. 6 billion!

From individual entrepreneurs to companies, the importance of having a presence on YouTube continues to grow.

7. Google’s Algorithm to Rank Websites is PageRank (PR)

With over one billion websites on the worldwide web, Google’s PageRank brings hierarchy and order to your searches. Targeted SEO certainly plays a major factor in helping pages move to the top of the list, but PageRank is a complicated algorithm that counts not only the number but the ‘quality’ of links to a page.

Some companies do offer webmasters the ability to buy high PageRank links, but Google is keen on keeping an eye on those who try to ‘game the system.’ Getting an idea of the types of uses and social components of PageRank can help individuals and companies increase visibility and ultimately convert sales.

8. 30,000 Websites Are Hacked Every Day

How’s your website security? With the ever-increasing impact of cybercriminals, it is critically important to maintain the safety of you and your customers’ data. Proper security maintains the reputation of your brand, instilling confidence, loyalty, and long-term success.

The importance of facts and data cannot be underestimated. You can take that statement to heart — and to the bank.
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