Internet Expansion. Websites versus Users
Since PoC began in 2007, about 6 years ago, the internet has changed a lot. It is always changing at a rapid rate. The direction of the growth graph is sharply upwards. The internet is growing at a rate that is faster than internet users think because users just see the sites they regularly visit and the ones they occasionally search for using Google or another search engine.
An internet user has a limited field of vision with respect to the internet unless they are researching information about the internet.
The interesting point is that the number of new websites is outstripping the number of new users. The chart below tells you by how much.
| 2006 | 2011 | Comment | |
| Number of Internet Users | 1023,000,000. This is just over one billion users or about 1 billion1 | 2,095 millions or about 2 billion1 | The number of users has grown by a factor of about 2 over this time (100% increase) |
| Number of Active Websites | 46,800,0002 | 366,800,0002 | The number of websites has grown by a factor of about 8 over this time (800% increase) |
2013: 630 million websites online – I am told3
What does the chart tell us?
It means that all websites are liable to get less traffic (i.e they might and possibly will get less traffic). This is because of increased competition. Also Google has to find other websites and Google likes to bring in (find) new websites.
So, at the beginning, the first website by Sir Timothy John “Tim” Berners-Lee, OM, KBE, FRS, FREng, FRSA (his site was: http://info.cern.ch) received 100% of the internet traffic. It was No. 1 in the world. It is now the 11 thousandth most visited site which is amazingly good because it is of historical interest. It is still a very small site. But it has dropped by a factor of 11 thousand – 11,000%
As the internet expanded each website received less traffic unless it expanded itself at a faster rate while maintaining quality. It is simply about competition and a dilution of the internet. An expansion of the internet is like adding more water to a orange flavored drink. It becomes more dilute.
This is interesting and significant for all websites and most importantly for websites owned and run by a single individual as a hobby, usually.
Websites managed by a single person cannot expand faster unless the person employs someone or more people. This means a change from hobby to business. Whereas, existing website businesses simply have to employ more people and create new ideas if they have the commitment and funding. It is about expanding with the internet. It is about business.
PoC is a leader. At one time (about 2009) it was the number one cat website by viewer hits. People also steal pictures from PoC and that is difficult to combat. This dilutes the benefits of PoC. I am not complaining. This is business and I accept it completely. I fight it too.
The question I ask myself is; “do I employ people?” Do I invest tens of thousands of dollars to expand PoC? PoC is remarkable in that is still does very well thanks to PoCers (thank you) and myself. However, it is gradually receiving less traffic. The quality has improved. The quantity is there. It is just not keeping pace with the frenetic expansion of the world wide web.
Sources:
- internetworldstats.com
- statisticbrain.com
- http://info.cern.ch/