10 Interesting Facts about the Internet

Today, everyone uses the Internet as a means of communication, studying, and entertainment, but still, there are plenty of amazing facts about the Internet we couldn’t imagine! Here are some of them:

1. The well-known social networking website Facebook (founded by Mark Zuckerberg) now has more than 520 million registered users. If Facebook was a country, it would have taken the third place among the world’s largest countries. Indeed, do you know anybody who does not have an account on Facebook? 🙂

2. A today’s news website contains as much information as a person of the 18th century could learn. According to Martin Gilbert, researcher of the University of Southern California, 100 years ago, a person could master no more than 50 books in a lifetime. Today, the average person is able to absorb the information stored in 600 000 books (!)

3. The highest spread of Internet connection is in… Bermuda. By comparison, Japan takes the 22nd place.

4. Within a month, the Google search engine can handle 35 billion queries. Today, users search almost everything on the net: where to buy a TV, how to find a plumber – 10 years ago, it was hard to imagine where a person was looking for the answers to these questions. 🙂

5. All Internet is 4 exabytes of information. By the way, 1 exabyte = 1000 petabytes; 1 petabyte = 1000 terabytes; 1 terabyte = 1000 gigabytes. Each year, this amount is doubled.

6. Today, every 8th couple has met through dating sites and apps.

7. The first emoticon appeared in 1979 when Kevin McKenzie tried to express his emotions by electronic means. First, it looked like this -) Three years later, Scott Fahlman added a colon : -) and it took the form we are used to.

8. With the advent of the Internet, virtual piracy appeared. Today, the 1st place among the countries with the highest software piracy rates belongs to Armenia.

9. 81% of all emails are spam.

10. The most bizarre gadget is a refrigerator with built-in wi-fi, with the help of which you can surf the Internet.

These are just some of the interesting facts about the Internet today. It’s constantly growing and developing, so in a few years, it could be that the Internet will provide even more impressive possibilities.