Blogging Statistics and Internet Access in the World Today

Without the internet, there would be no blogging. Forget about blogging… the world would be a completely different place from what it is today. Through the power of the internet, the world is now more connected than ever before and anyone has the opportunity to start a blog, website or business right from the comfort of their own homes. While it may seem like all of this has happened in just the past few years, it’s actually been a few decades in the making.

The internet itself is over 25 years old, and it was all the back in 1991 when AOL (America Online) first came onto the scene. When you start talking about site creation and blogging, Google first launched in 1998 and even WordPress just turned 14 years old itself.

In short, there are always going to be a ton of moving parts in the world of technology, thus bringing us to where we are at any given moment on the internet. Today we are going to look at where we stand today in the world of blogging, internet access and a look at how increasing internet speeds and access around the world is helping us all stay better connected.

WordPress Stats of Today – 14 Years in the Making

WordPress has completely changed the way content is created on the internet today. Not only is the content management software powering more than 27% of all the sites on the internet, it’s also made it possible for anyone to start a website or blog without the need to learn how to code, design or manually upload files through FTP. This type of ‘hands off’ technology continues to be one of the driving factors behind why and how the internet continues to change everything we do in the world today.

Let’s take a look at some of the interesting stats from WordPress.

• WordPress is Older Than Twitter and Facebook – The first version of WordPress was released on May 27, 2003. This makes WordPress older than both Facebook and Twitter.
• The Name “WordPress” – The name WordPress was suggested by Christine Selleck Tremoulet Christine Selleck Tremoulet, a prolific blogger and a friend of Matt Mullenweg (co-founder of WordPress), suggested the name WordPress.
• WordPress is Not Owned by Any Company – In order to protect the freedoms offered by open source, WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg created the WordPress Foundation. This non-profit organization owns the ‘WordPress’ trademark and protects freedoms offered by the software’s open source license.
• WordPress powers a Multi-Billion Dollar Economy – WordPress is a multi-million dollar industry Hundreds of companies and thousands of professionals from all over the world sell WordPress-based products, services, and solutions. WordPress provides excellent opportunities to thousands of developers, designers, and entrepreneurs to build their businesses upon WordPress.

To learn even more about the history of WordPress and even more interesting facts, be sure to check out the full infographic at WPBeginner.

When compared to all websites and content on the internet, WordPress stands strong as one of the most used and trusted content management systems out there. While the chart below shows only a 26% market share for WordPress in comparison to all sites on the internet, it’s actually more like 76.4% when competing against just CMS platforms (as reported by Wappalyzer).

With WordPress gaining traction and making it easier for anyone to start a website or blog, we can rest assured that as new internet service and faster speeds continue to make their way around the world, that we will see a flood of new bloggers entering the space as well. Which leads us into our next topic of discussion — internet access and speeds around the world.

Fastest Internet Speeds in the World Today

For bloggers, online marketers and businesses around the world, without a fast connection to the internet, you are simply going to be left in the dust. While most of the United States and top countries in the world take their internet access and speeds for granted, many other countries are still just fighting to get online, let alone have reliable wifi access.

When looking at the fastest ISPs in the United States during 2016, Comcast Xfinity and Verizon Fios lead the way — nearly in a dead heat. With these two powerhouses always in direct competition with each other, not only is it great for technology, it’s also a benefit to all of their customers as well. Further down the list, you will find names like Suddenlink Comm, Time Warner Cable, and Cox, who all continue to bring reliable service, but Fios and Xfinity are where the main competition and focus is at.

After looking at internet speeds around the United States, it’s important to do a comparison with other countries around the world as well. The “global average” Mbps speed is at 5.6 while leading countries around the world are seeing high-teens and sometimes upper 20s. Surprising enough, we can find that the countries with the fastest internet speeds in the world are actually South Korea, Ireland, Hong Kong, Sweden and Netherlands… while the United States has fallen all the way back to the 20th position.

From what we can tell, internet speeds and access around the world are continuing to improve year over year. However, there are still locations throughout the world where internet access is limited and they are just tapping into the true potential of what mobile really has to offer. For example, as India continues to put more mobile devices in the hands of their billion-plus residents, not only will we see increased internet usage, we will also likely see more WordPress sites created through mobile devices as well — which is all part of the benefit to using WordPress for creating sites.

Opportunities for Growth and Competition Around the Globe

When you think about internet access in the United States, the two main companies that come to mind are Verizon and Xfinity. This also has to do with the massive spending and branding promotions that they are constantly running through every media campaign possible. However, as you make your way outside of the U.S., you may soon find that there are more options and providers to choose from.

In New Zealand for examples, broadband service providers like BigPipe are offering unlimited internet plans and offering incentives where others have lacked in service or quality. At the same time, due to the power of the internet and blogging, providers like BigPipe can still compete with much larger brands through customer word of mouth, content promotions and of course… social media.

No only do these type of customer responses further improve the branding and trust in the brands they are purchasing from, it also helps spread awareness for new and faster internet options in the process. This will continue to be key as new broadband and service providers make their way across the globe. As you can see on the map below, New Zealand and Australia are still relatively fast in comparison to other parts of the world, such as Southern Asia, the Middle East and most of Africa.

As mobile usage and wireless technology continue to make huge advancements in the coming years, it will be interesting to see how quickly the countries lacking in internet speed and access right now propel their way to the top of the list.

 

How Internet Access Affects the Blogging World

Looking back at the last twenty years and how the internet has completely changed the way we run our lives, it’s still quite amazing to believe that more than half of the world still isn’t online yet. With over a billion active websites and blogs currently online, just imagine where we will be in a few years from now as that ‘online’ number continues to increase.

If you ever felt the internet was saturated today and there was no room for you to start a blog or have a little spot of your own, it’s only going to continue to get more congested and busy in the coming years. With more people online and improved technology and internet around the world, it’s simply more of an opportunity for bloggers who put in the time and effort to create something amazing for the rest of the world to see.