Nearly Half the World is Online
While I don’t typically subscribe to the chatter about “trends” and how every marketing plan should incorporate them, I have spent the past few weeks haphazardly doing research to help me foresee and plan what might be good tactics to dovetail into the marketing strategies of some of my clients.
The statistics I found were compelling from both a professional and personal standpoint.
The fact that nearly half the world is online is just one of the statistics that struck me as noteworthy. There’s also data to support that almost one-third of the world uses social media, which, considering its’ relative newness, is quite astounding indeed.
Global population is 7.395 billion.
Here are some key statistics for digital, social, and mobile media in January 2016:
? 3.42 billion internet users, equaling 46% global penetration
? 2.31 billion social media users, delivering 31% global penetration
? 3.79 billion unique mobile users, representing 51% global penetration
? 1.97 billion mobile social media users, equating to 27% global penetration
How this compares to the January 2015 global report:
? The number of reported internet users is up by 10%, growing by 332 million;
? The number of reported social media is up by 10%, an increase of 219 million;
? Unique mobile users increased by 4% thanks to 141 million new users;
? Mobile social media users leapt 17%, adding 283 million new users.
I find these statistics incredible; particularly considering that I once held a marketing role that involved only sending faxes, all day long, and I don’t feel like an antique!
Possibly even more surprising is that I’ve met and worked with many business owners in the past few years that either didn’t have a website, or didn’t place much importance on online matters of any kind.
While I don’t succumb to every trend coming down the pike, it’s safe to say that the online world and its’ trappings are not trends; they’re here to stay and society is evolving along with them. Having a web presence and producing regular and relevant content that truly helps your target audience is no longer optional.
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