Fifteen years have passed since the launch of Netscape in 1994 when there were estimated to be 5,000 websites; the Internet research organization Netcraft started tracking the number of websites in 1995, and estimated the number at 18,000. It's easy to forget how relatively early on in the innovation cycle of the web we find ourselves. Whether we are in Web 2.0 or moving to a 3.0 era, the on-going growth and striking dynamism continues to inspire.
[For more information on Web 3.0 (“The Semantic Web”) please click here. But it might be easier to wait on a street corner until Tim Berners-Lee happens to pass by and just ask him – it will take less time.]
Of course, we've had the dot-com boom and subsequent nuclear winter, but innovation requires the forest to be burnt down from time to time to allow new shoots to sprout.
But as you think about just how young the Internet is, here are five pretty incredible web stats to drop at your next meeting, dinner conversation, or airplane ride.
Mind-Blowing Web Stat #1: If the number of approximately 5000 websites in 1994 is correct and that we are now part of some 200 million plus websites today, then we've experienced a stunning 40,000-fold increase in number of websites. How's that for a growth rate?
Mind-Blowing Web State #2: It feels like it was only yesterday that Evan Williams coined the term, "blogger" as founder of Blogger.com before taking the head post at Twitter. Today, the blogosphere is doubling between once and twice a year and there are over one million blog posts daily.
Mind-Blowing Web Stat #3: Speaking of Evan and Twitter, there have now been more than five billion tweets.
Mind-Blowing Web Stat #4: Here are two stunning stats on Google and Facebook. Google still owns the search market. Sources estimate that the search goliath receives about two billion queries per day. Facebook.com estimates that the social network is adding 700,000 new users per day.
Mind-Blowing Web Stat # 5: Okay, this is as much of a predictive statement as a stat. What is amazing is that whether you look at the global or US top ten websites, about half of the sites are five- to six-year-old companies (e.g. YouTube, Blogger, and Facebook). The implication is that we'll continue to see a pretty high-rate of churn amongst the top ten. What other industry is there where so many in the top ten market share positions are companies that are younger than a first grader?