Internet Usage Statistics 2021: The Data Never Sleeps 8.0

In an increasingly digitized world, exacerbated by the emergence of COVID-19, these years have introduced a new era in which technology and data play a larger and crucial part in our daily lives. For any marketer or business out there, one thing is certain: the influence of data consumption in our modern digital environment has undoubtedly increased as we are in the thick of our present pandemic. Between quarantine and the widespread lockdown of offices, banks, stores, restaurants, and more, society largely shifted its presence online. As we learn to adapt to this new era, data never sleeps.

However, scaling back to pre-covid times, the amount of data created and shared was already expanding, albeit slowly. This definitely shows that internet trends are here to stay for the foreseeable future, and data availability will continue to grow.

50% of companies are starting to utilize data analytics much more as compared to pre-pandemic times. This includes over 68% of small businesses as well.

Sisense, State of BI & Analytics Report

How Far Has Data Evolved?

About 59% of our global population has internet access, while 4.57 billion are active users – this is about a 3% increase from the previous year i.e. 2019. Among those numbers, 4.2 billion are active mobile users while 3.81 billion utilize social media.

The 2021 State of the Data Center Report

Given how COVID-19 has given us access to a far larger remote workforce, we can safely claim that the future of our job has arrived, and it begins at home! – At least for the time being. One way to look at this estimate is as follows:

• For the time being, the future of employment is at home. Prior to quarantine, about 15% of Americans worked from home. It’s now evaluated that the percentage has grown to 50%, which is great news for collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams, which has an average of 52,083 individuals joining per minute.
• Zoom, a video conferencing enterprise, has seen a significant surge in users. Their daily app sessions increased from slightly over two million in February to nearly seven million in March, with an average of 208,333 people meeting each minute.
• People who are unable to socialize in person are increasingly using video chat. Between January and March, Google Duo usage increased by 12.4 percent, and almost 27,778 people meet on Skype per minute. 
• Since the outbreak, WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, has witnessed a 51 percent increase in usage.
• With each passing minute, the amount of data expands exponentially; now, this translates to about 140k photos posted by users in that minute, and that’s just on Facebook.

Private firms such as Facebook and Amazon, though, aren’t the only ones possessing data. Even governments use data, the most perceptible example being the contact tracing application, which alerts people if they are still in close proximity to someone who has COVID-19.

This means that data is now showing no indications of slowing down on its growth, and there are stats to back up this claim. These figures aren’t likely to slow down anytime soon, and they’re only predicted to rise as the worldwide internet population grows over time.

There’s a video chat for socializing, smartphone delivery services for ordering any kind of item, video streaming apps for amusement, and so on. As a result, data is generated continuously through ad clicks, media shares, social media reactions, transactions, rides, streaming content, and more.

How Much Data Generation occurs Every Minute?

Keep in mind that data is generated every minute. Let’s take a look at the most recent data on how much data is generated per digital minute. Starting with some numbers in the entertainment section:

• In the first quarter, one of the increasingly popular online streaming platform Netflix added 15.8 million new customers, a 16 percent increase in traffic from January to March. It also gathers around 404,444 hours of video streaming
• Your favorite YouTubers upload around 500-hrs of video
• The all famous video creating & sharing platform Tiktok gets installed about 2,704 times
• Topping this section off with some tunes is Spotify that adds an estimated 28 tracks to its library

Moving forward to social media, which is the most basic and popular part of our online community.

• Instagram, the world’s most eminent visual sharing network, has 347,222 user posts in its stories alone, with 138,889 hits on its company profile ads.
• Twitter adds approximately 319 new members, maintaining its momentum with memes and political debates.
• Facebook users — whether millennials, boomers, or Gen Z – continue to share about 150,000 messages and an estimated 147,000 photographs on the most popular social media platform.

In terms of connectivity, the numbers have risen dramatically since the pre-covid era:

• The emerging communication platform Microsoft Teams connect about 52,083 users
• An estimated number of about 1,388,889 individuals make video & voice calls
• One of the most utilized text messaging platform WhatsApp has over 2 billion active users that share 41,666,667 messages
• The video conferring application Zoom hosts 208,333 participants in meetings
• Viral news and content sharing platform Reddit sees about 479,452 individuals engage with content
• While the employment-oriented platform LinkedIn has users that apply for 69,444 jobs

But, putting data aside for a moment, what about the money that is being spent every minute on the internet? Consumers are anticipated to spend around $1 million on the internet.

Furthermore, Venmo users transmit over $200k in payments, with over $3000 spent on mobile apps.

Amazon, the prominent online marketing corporation, sends out 6,659 shipments per day (in the U.S alone). Meanwhile, online delivery & takeout platform Doordash diners order approximately 555 meals.

Wrapping up!

As our society evolves, businesses must adapt as well, which almost always necessitates the use of data. Every swipe, click, like, or share contributes to a much larger database, which could lead to the discovery of your clients’ requirements. As a result, when these numbers are carefully evaluated, the information gained can aid in a much better comprehension of a world that is moving at an accelerating rate. Because of COVID-19, most firms are working differently, and having real-time data about their own operations and environment can enable them to make better decisions in order to survive, and even prosper, in response.