Can anyone deny the profound impact the internet has had on our lives?
With the rapid growth of the internet worldwide, we have truly become a global society connected unlike ever before. Currently there are approximately 2,405,518,376 internet users in the world, that's more than a 566.4% increase since 2000! As the use of the internet progresses and changes with technology, as does our world!
Hacktivism
The rise of the internet has given way to a new nonviolent way to usurp the man, hacktivism, the use of legally ambiguous digital tools in pursuit of political, social or cultural subversive ends. Organization like Wikileaks provide a secure and anonymous way for sources to leak information which included 251,287 classified documents from 274 American consulates, embassies and diplomatic missions around the world. The power of hacktivisim and social media also led to the Arab Spring where protesters were able to get organized through Facebook to spread rebellious inspiration - leaked videos and photographs of state brutality which led to the Egyptian government eventually being overthrown. There were 2,300 daily tweets about the #egyptrevolution one month before President Hosni Mubarak resigned, and there were 230,000 tweets the day Mubarak finally stepped down.
Hobbyist Revolution
You can also become an expert in just about anything online these days! People are using YouTube to become self-anointed actors, with 72 hours of video uploaded each minute. 800 million unique users visit YouTube each month, with 4 billion hours of video watched. Or maybe you want to be a photographer? Enter Instagram with 90 million monthly active users and 40 million photos uploaded per day. 13% of all internet users are on Instagram. Or maybe you're interested in do-it-yourself arts and crafts? 10% of all the pins on Pinterest are in the DIY & Crafts category with women being 5X more likely to be on the site than men. And 15% of all internet users are on Pinterest and rapidly growing, with a 1047% increase in YOY unique PC visitors. Or maybe you want to be a doctor? Thanks to the internet, becoming a hypochondriac is much easier than it used to be. WebMD has 107.2 million unique visitors each month, a 22% increase over 2011.
Education
The greatest gift brought by the online revolution however is the ability for on-demand education where you can literally learn anytime and anywhere. 32% of higher-ed students (6.7+ million) take at least one online course. 77% of academic leaders rate the online learning outcomes as the same or superior to face-to-face learning. Free online courses are even now being taught by Ivy League Professors! JSTOR has more than 4.5 million scholarly articles from nearly 800 academic publishers available online with a subscription. The internet has led to a more free and open forum for exchanging new information and ideas. As the online revolution continues, how do you expect the internet to further change or improve your world in the future?
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