An internet minute. Does that sound short? It’s not at all. The scale of the internet has grown to be vast and global, with an extraordinary amount of data being transmitted every single minute. While you may be procrastinating, hard at work, writing emails or on conference calls, the internet still continues to turn. Here’s what you can expect to see happen in an internet minute.
From 2018 to 2019: The Internet Minute
A minute isn’t long until you consider it in terms of the global internet infrastructure. In a single minute, Google handles 3.8 million search queries. A million people log into Facebook. And 4.5 million videos are viewed on YouTube alone. But it’s not just that those numbers are staggering, it’s that they are growing.
Here are the numbers from 2018 compared to 2019:
- Google went from 3.78 million search queries to 3.8 million. It’s understandable that Google has plateaued somewhat: it’s already the major search engine for the entire globe. But Google doesn’t just control search queries from desktop computers, laptops and tablets. Google also controls search queries coming from most Android devices, and voice queries for devices such as Google Home. That makes it a shockingly busy and prevalent architecture.
- Facebook went from 973,000 people logging in to 1 million people logging in. And these aren’t just people logging into Facebook itself. Facebook now runs the login capabilities of many third-party sites: you can “log in with Facebook” to many popular sites. This has created a consolidation of authentication services, and it’s made Facebook quite powerful.
- YouTube went from 4.3 million videos viewed to 4.5 million videos viewed. Younger individuals are using YouTube more frequently than they’re using television. YouTube, along with its premium service YouTube Red, has become a major venue for advertisers. With high-resolution content and ad-free accounts available, YouTube has outlasted other video-focused venues such as Vine.
- Netflix went from 266,000 hours watched to 694,444 hours watched. Netflix is growing blazingly fast, and it’s one of the single largest winners in the “cord-cutting” trend. Rather than having cable, many millennials are instead watching Netflix. Of course, that means cutting the cable cord and investing more in high-speed internet.
- eCommerce went from $862,823 spent online to $996,956 spent online. Nearly a million dollars is spent every single minute online. Many people are doing their shopping online today, as it makes it easier for them to compare and contrast items, as well as look up product reviews.
- Emails went from 187 million emails sent to 188 million emails sent. It’s notable that email has remained mostly static. Of course, that’s still an incredible amount of emails sent. But people are increasingly moving toward instant messaging, team chat rooms, voice calls and video conferences. These are more instantaneous modes of conversation that can be more productive and efficient.
- Twitch went from 936,073 views to 1 million views. Purchased by Amazon, Twitch has also been growing in terms of subscription and revenue. Twitch is a major venue for video game streaming, with many people interested in streaming their own personal content.
These are just a few of the most popular things that are happening on the internet at any given time. Other discrete events include apps being downloaded, text messages being sent, and swipes on dating services.
The Capacity of the Internet is Ever-Growing
The internet is a vast and varied place, with a number of social and business outlets. As you can see, there are some platforms that are currently plateauing (YouTube and Facebook) and there are other platforms that are growing by leaps and bounds (Netflix). Email is growing slowly, but services such as Snapchat are growing quickly. The way that people are using the internet is changing.
And that’s something that everyone needs to be prepared for. High-volume, high-capacity, multimedia services are becoming more common. As Netflix, Twitch and other streaming services are becoming mainstays of the regular household, they demand more dedicated, high-speed internet connections.
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