100 Million Websites

The web reached a new milestone in October. Netcraft, an internet monitoring company that has tracked the growth of the internet since 1995 has announced that the internet is now home to over 100 million domain names with active websites attached.

“When the Web was started, it was started as a mechanism for sharing high energy particle physics data,” said Professor Rebecca Grinter of Georgia Tech’s College of Computing.

“The Web has gone from being a very straightforward thing where you put some text and perhaps some images, to being this incredibly powerful medium in and of itself. You can engage so much more dynamically, and so many more people are doing so many more things. And who knows what will come about tomorrow?” said Grinter,”

Other interesting facts: There were only 18,000 websites in August 1995. In May 2004 there were 50 million and, in less than 3 years, the web hit 100 million.

From sharing intellect to restaurant recommendations the web has grown beyond the lab and is now a central part of corporate advertising campaigns. The rate at which the Internet was adopted as a means of communication versus radio or television is exponentially faster – in only 13 years the Internet has become a standard form of research, correspondence, and marketing.