This Is How Social The Web Really Is [Infographic]

When we take a look at today’s Internet, and the Internet we used 10 years ago, it’s quite apparent that things are moving in one specific direction. It’s not so hard to see what direction that is, right? It is of course moving more and more towards the social networking and bookmarking path. The booming businesses on the Internet are dominated by social networking sites and by the increasing number of social bookmarking services available to us. But just how social is the Internet today? It’s one of the hardest things to measure since there were 8.38 billion websites available on the Internet in the beginning of 2012. I think we could safely say that the Internet is expanding faster than anyone could imagine.

In order to somewhat measure how social the Internet really is, Brainhost decided to do some research on the topic. By checking the top million most popular websites, they managed to get data that is possibly the most accurate you can get your hands on right now, and the result is quite interesting. It so happens that 72.3 percent of the top million websites use no social widgets at all. That might come as a surprise to many people, and it was to me too. However, what is not so much of a surprise is that 15.9 percent of the websites use a Facebook widget of some kind.

I know the numbers in the graphs on this infographic might seem way confusing, but know that the percentage is counted towards the top million websites and not the accumulated 100% of all the widgets used. After all, some websites use several different widgets (that’s what we do here at Bit Rebels) and so the percentage is larger than 100 percent.

This infographic called How Social Is The Web? is one of those Internet updates that I think will fuel a lot of innovation. Why? Because it is quite apparent that there is a huge potential to grow since 72.3 percent of the top million websites don’t use any social widgets at all. If anything, that should be something to get inspired by. Facebook does not rule the world, and there is room for quite a lot more innovation.

Personally, and I think many people will agree with me on this, I thought the Internet was more social than it actually is. Furthermore, it’s interesting that in the beginning of 2012 there were only 2.27 billion unique Internet users. That number is double what it was back in 2007, so we’re still seeing an explosion when it comes to people joining the Internet community. Suddenly the Facebook domination in social networking doesn’t seem so invincible after all. Sure, they stand for about half the people using the Internet, but there are still room to come up with a service that might rival its dominance.

With the Internet expanding as fast as it is, where will it be in a few years from now? Pinterest is making great headway and Twitter seems to have gotten back on track (at least a little, even though the direct messages are still not working properly). The question is whether or not we’ll see a new service overtaking these giants before the year is over. I always enjoy the up and coming social networking sites lists that are always published at the beginning of each year. Pinterest wasn’t on many lists this year, but this service is the only one worthy enough for the number one prize. So, as you can see, the web is a place where anything can happen. It’s all about innovation, and you could be the next one to take on these giants. All it takes is a good idea and the dedication to see it through.