ClappingTree’s Web 2.0

AS OF 10 MARCH 2007, although Asian Internet penetration is only 10.7% of total Asian population (compared to 25% for the rest of the world), Asian Internet users already comprises 35.8% of world internet population, according to Internet World Stats (based on data compiled from World Gazetteer, Nielsen/NetRatings, ITU, and other local sources). Extrapolating this with the Asian growth rate of 248.8% over a 7-year period: Would over 50% of world internet population be Asian soon (say, in one or two years’ time)?

ACCORDING TO THE READ/WRITE WEB (RWW), also quoting World Internet Stats in World Internet Penetration Now 16% – Asia Growing Fast!:

• China, Japan, India, Korea (South), Indonesia and Taiwan are among the top 20 countries with highest number of users.
• English and Chinese are the top two languages of all Internet users, comprising almost 44 percent.

Extrapolating the second piece of information with the Chinese language growth rate of 346.7 % over a 5-year period: Would over 30% of world internet users be reading and/or writing in Chinese soon (say, in one or two years’ time)?

What would these extrapolations mean for you and me?

Note: RWW’s observations were made in September 2006, but they still hold true with the latest data compiled at the same site. The extrapolations here are based on intuitive projections, and not Mathematical calculations.