Who Creates The Web?

Ok, I confess, the title is disingenuous. Everyone knows no single entity dominates, much less creates, the web. But if anyone was still in doubt on that point, the latest Pew Internet study should finally put the issue to rest.

According to Wendy Davis’ story on Online Media Daily:

“As of last December, 35 percent of Americans had posted to a blog, created a Web page, shared online photos, or otherwise generated content. That proportion is more than double the 16 percent that had posted any content to the Web in January 2002, when Pew first researched the topic.”

That translates to 48 million Americans, according to ClickZ’ Enid Burns.

Not only are the base numbers increasing, but the demographic spread is widening. It isn’t just young, techno-savvy web geeks anymore, it’s everybody.

That shouldn’t be too surprising, considering the growth of social networks over the past few years. MSN Spaces, for example, now has more than 100 million unique visitors, according to comScore Media Matrix data.

And, says Hitwise, MySpace.com now constitutes 8.7% of Google’s traffic, the largest single source. (Hardly any wonder, then, that the two companies are rumored to be in talks on some kind of deal.)

It’s anybody’s guess — because I sure don’t have a good one — what happens after everyone is talking and showing everything to everyone in every way. But there’s no need to guess about one likely result: More dollars for affiliate marketers who cash in on the trend toward non-traditional advertising.

So the answer to the question of the title, at least in part, would be: you do.

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3 Comments

The most amazing thing about the Web, which we still haven’t property comprehended, is that it enables virtually anyone anywhere to communicate with others around the world.

MySpace is probably the best known online networking site, but there are many others ranging from the simply fun to the seriously business-oriented.

Not only this, but I think that to ’survive’ as people of consequence in the future, we’ll all have to aim to network more often and more productively.

There are many ways of doing this, but in this online age I personally prefer Net Networking.

Geoffrey Ponder
http://www.Networking-Knowledge.com
Network Your Way around the World!

Comment by Geoffrey Ponder | May 30th, 2006 6:50 pm | Permalink

I could be wrong on this stat, and I confess I havent checked it out. BUT I was listening to the radio here in Ottawa yesterday and they were talking about this topic. Their report was that PORN is the biggest attraction to the web and the product most downloaded. They were talking about surfing at work. I believe some of the numbers were 45% of men and 35% of women visit porn and or downloaded it(while at work) Does it seem like porn keeps the net propped up.

Comment by its_me_shaners | May 31st, 2006 6:47 am | Permalink

It may vary by country, but the studies I’ve seen show porn decreasing considerably over the last 10 years as a percentage of the total. (A review of popular keywords tends to lend support to that.)

Of course, the total may be larger, and it’s still obviously very popular, but most of the sites visited by most visitors every day are certainly not porn. In the extremely unlikely event it disappeared, the web would continue unabated.

Comment by Jeffrey Perren, AC Magazine | May 31st, 2006 10:27 am | Permalink

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