1 Billion Online Users… and Counting

(I wrote this last March in a techblog I am trying to set up, so, what I have here is a 6-month-old set of data. Hehehe.)

Did you know that there are more than a billion online users in the whole world? There are about six billion of us here on earth and almost 20 percent frequently access the Internet. Also, a range of 25 to 35 million are active members of different popular social media sites (Facebook, MySpace, Blogspot, WordPress, etc.).

What is this for me? Right now, I know I have the potential to reach out (directly and through their connections) to a few hundred million people simply by making a post in my Facebook account. Or posting through this WordPress blog… like this one.

Again, what is this for me? This means if I know how to utilize the power of the Internet, I can open up a business and/or consultancy site and have a potential 1 billion business leads. Offline, reaching out to a hundred people is already a pain in the ar$e. So, maybe, this potential should not be ignored. It shouldn’t be.

Three random facts about social media platforms:

1. Obama announced his running via Twitter first. He has more than half a million comments in his Facebook account and more than 5 million friends when I checked. he also has a MySpace account, a YouTube Channel, and some more.
2. Facebook’s creator is Mark Zuckerberg, a 23-year-old dropout from Harvard, and is worth more than a billion dollars.
3. Friendster is most popular in Asian countries; with Facebook and Multiply coming in next.

Here are some of the most popular social media platforms (super-lazy to put the links, just Google them, they’ll probably in the top result — else they are not that popular at all, hehehe):

1. Facebook
2. MySpace
3. Blogspot
4. WordPress
5. LinkedIn
6. Digg
7. Technorati
8. Stumbledupon
9. Friendster
10. Multiply

Open one and explore possible opportunities — be it professional, personal, or business.