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When you think about the growth of the Internet it is absolutely amazing. Looking back to when I first developed a very simple web page, circa 95/96 it would have been impossible to look ahead and predict what would happen. Most of the improvements to usability of the Internet is to do with the speed of access, especially with high speed broadband and GSM.

Since we’re looking back with rose tinted glasses, we thought we’d use todays post to outline some facts that show just how much our lives are touched by the Internet.

1. 18-34 year olds are the biggest computer users, spending around 60 hours per month on their computer. Source Nielsen/Net ratings

2. The largest online group is the 35-44 age group. Source Hitwise

3. About 8.6m people in the UK and approximately 14% of the UK population are registered disabled with 2 million having a sight problem. Sources Disability Rights Commission & Royal National Institute of the Blind

4. Advertising expenditure in the UK passed £19 billion in 2006 and online accounted for £2,016 million which was a rise of 47% Source Advertising Association

5. In the UK search engine market Google has 79% of the market with the next nearest competitor being Yahoo! with 7% Source Hitwise April 2007

6. 77% of B2B companies regard the primary purpose of the website as a source of company and product/service information. Only 12% of B2B companies cited online sales as the primary objective of the website. B2B Marketing/IAB, April 2006

7. 65% of SMEs have websites Silicon.com/Yankee Group, July 2006

8. 7% of UK workers use the internet to frequently to carry out Internet searches in connection with their work. Vertical Search Report 2008 Convera

9. Ease of use was cited by 59% by customers as the reason for shopping online, compared to only 32% who cited low prices. Online Retail 2006 User Experience Benchmarks - Sales Logiq

10. 64% of companies believe that joined-up online and offline experiences are essential for engaging with their audience. However, some 60% of companies are either not very advanced at mapping customer experiences and identifying touch-points. Customer Engagement Report E-consultancy Nov 2006