15 Insane Facts About the Internet
Since the 1960's, the internet has been in development by scientists and pioneers to share information at the drop of a hat. What they didn't know then is that the internet has become an essential (to some) part of modern daily living. Far surpassing the simple notion of just sharing information, the internet has gone on to host social networks, create digital movie theaters and open platforms for news outlets to cascade information within milliseconds. It has even gone as far as tilting public opinion towards politics, entertainment and social norms. Here are the most insane and strangest facts about the internet...
The idea of the internet can be traced back to the 1900's with scientists, engineers and others plotting the flow of information via technology. It wasn't until the 1960's that J.C.R. Licklider from MIT thought of the"Intergalactic Network" for computers. Shortly after, the ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) was created. It was the first instance of a functional working system.
According to the ICT, there are 3.2 billion internet users globally. Surprisingly, there are 4 billion offline users on the opposite side of the spectrum. Don't worry though, the number of online users continues to grow.
In 1989 Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web. If you don't remember the term World Wide Web, it's now what is commonly referred to as The Web. Berners-Lee coded the first web page in 1990 and the rest is history. Sites like Facebook and Google would not exist today without the ability to code in content.
SixDegrees.com was one of the first social network services available to the public. Based on the "six degrees of separation" concept, SixDegrees.com was created in 1997 and lasted until 1999. This was one of the first times users could upload photos and information that was shareable within smaller networks usually angled around similar interests.
According to the Sophos Labs 2019 Threat Report, 30,000 web sites are hacked daily. Hacking has taken many shapes over the years. Today, hacking can be associated with fake news and even incriminating digital paper trails. Hackers keep getting better with new technological advances.
Around 1999, the brand-consulting firm Interbrand created the name Wi-Fi after being commissioned by the Wi-FI Alliance to market the then-innovative service. The term Wi-Fi doesn't have any actual meaning. Its origins are also kind of unknown. Some sources report that it started in the 70's in Hawaii and other report that it was created in Australia during the early 90's.
According to Kleiner Perkins 2019 Internet Trends Report, adults spend 5.9 hours a day actively online. To combat this growing issue, most phone retailers and laptops are adding in limits to the amount of usage per day.
With more than a billion websites to choose from, Google is king. According to the traffic ranking site Alexa, Google.com is the most visited site in the world. Youtube.com ranks second and the Chinese language search engine Baidu.com is third.
A very basic form of email was created in the 1960's. They used the ARPANET system that allowed a rudimentary form of file sharing among connected computers. It wasn't until the late 90's that web-based email became popular with systems like AOL.
About five billion videos are watched on Youtube every day, with 300 hours of video being uploaded every minute. Youtube was launched in 2005 and quickly became one of the most popular websites on the internet. The music video for "Despacito" is the most watched video on Youtube to date.
In the United States, Minneapolis ranks first with the fastest internet speed (measure in megabits per second). Saint Paul ranks second and Atlanta third.
According to eharmony, 40% of adult americans use online dating. There are also 40 million americans using online dating services which is increasing every year.
Rumors about the dark web are actually true. Acting as a small part of the deep web, the dark web is commonly associated with illegal activities. Why? It's mostly unmonitored and unencrypted.
According to Statista, 90.8% of americans use the internet to send and receive emails. Coming close behind is texting or instant messaging with 90.2% and using social media ranks third with 74.4%.
According to the Pew Research Center, 37% of americans prefer to get their news online (social media, websites, etc.) while only 41% prefer television sources. The percentage of folks who prefer news online grows significantly year-over-year and this changes the way politicians are campaigning.
15 Insane Facts About the Internet
Since the 1960's, the internet has been in development by scientists and pioneers to share information at the drop of a hat. What they didn't know then is that the internet has become an essential (to some) part of modern daily living. Far surpassing the simple notion of just sharing information, the internet has gone on to host social networks, create digital movie theaters and open platforms for news outlets to cascade information within milliseconds. It has even gone as far as tilting public opinion towards politics, entertainment and social norms. Here are the most insane and strangest facts about the internet...
From social media to fake news, here are the strangest facts about the internet.
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