You could say the Internet has gone through a major growth spurt over the last 10 years. It started out as a small, complex concept that many people didn’t understand and evolved into a gargantuan force that connects billions of people to information throughout the world. Not bad for just being about a decade old. Let’s take a walk down memory lane and discover just how much has changed over the last ten years.
In 2002, only 9.1 percent of the world’s population (or 589 million people) used the Internet, where users only logged on for approximately 46 minutes throughout the day. Today, 2.27 billion, or 33 percent, of the world’s population use the Internet on an average of four hours a day.
Today, we all have our favorite Web browser, whether it’s Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox or Bing; however, in 2002, 95 percent of people used Internet Explorer with little to no other options. Think downloading a song today takes too long? In 2002, it took 12.5 minutes to download just one song on a 56k modem and 16 seconds to load a page. Today, it takes 18 seconds to download a song and only six seconds to load a page.
Are you shocked when you meet someone who’s not on Facebook? In 2002, only 3 million people had a Friendster account. Today, Facebook has 900 million users… and it’s continuously growing.
The Internet hasn’t just changed the way people connect, it’s also altered the way companies do business and interact with customers. For example, businesses can expand their customer reach by leveraging the power of Web-based contact centers. Try talking with customers through live chat, Twitter or your company’s Facebook page. With 2.27 billion people using the Internet, the possibilities are truly endless.
To learn about Web-based contact centers and more, click here.