The Internet as we know it has evolved tremendously over the years. What started as an experiment that connected academic and government computer systems has today become an entire globe-spanning network of interconnected machines and devices that not only include huge enterprise servers but also that mobile device in your hand.
In fact in 1984 only about 1,000 hosts across university and corporate labs were linked, and just 130 websites existed in 1993. By 2012 the number of websites would have exploded to 634 million, with a global Internet population of 2.1 billion. Here’s an infographic that traces the numbers to that astounding growth, and also shows data behind the corresponding growth of social media, mobile adoption and app usage rates:
[Infographic credit: WhoIsHostingThis.com]