Key Milestones in Internet History

 1969: Launch of ARPANET, the first operational packet-switching network.

 1971: The first email is sent by Ray Tomlinson.
 1983: Adoption of TCP/IP as the standard protocol for ARPANET.
 1989-1990: Tim Berners-Lee invents the World Wide Web.
 1993: The first graphical web browser, Mosaic, is released.
 1998: Google is founded, revolutionizing search engines.
 2007: The iPhone introduces widespread mobile Internet access.
 2010s: Rise of cloud computing, social media, and streaming services.
Who Invented the Internet? The Story of Multiple Pioneers
While no single person can claim to have “invented” the Internet, it emerged
through the collaborative efforts of numerous brilliant minds over several
decades. Let’s explore the key figures and their contributions that shaped the
modern Internet.
Who is known as the father of the Internet?
Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn
Known as
“The Fathers of the Internet”
Key Contributions:
 Invented TCP/IP protocol in 1974
 Created the foundation for data transmission
 Developed internet architecture
 Established basic internet communication standards
The Complete History of the Internet: A Year-by-Year Evolution
This year-by-year guide will explore its complete evolution, from ideation
during wartime to the present day in 2024, giving you a deeper understanding
of how it came to be.
1940s: Early Foundations and the World War II Connection
1945
 Vannevar Bush, an American engineer, published an article titled “As We
May Think,” envisioning a system called the Memex, a theoretical device
that could store all of an individual’s books, records, and communications.
This foresight laid the conceptual groundwork for the idea of hypertext and
linked data, critical elements of the future Internet.
 Story Connection: Bush’s work emerged from his leadership in the U.S.
Office of Scientific Research and Development during World War II. His
efforts to coordinate wartime technology inspired ideas about information
sharing on a grand scale, ultimately contributing to the Internet’s ideation.
1950s: The Seed of Ideation
1950 – 1958
 Cold War Influence: As tensions mounted between the USA and the
Soviet Union, fears of technological inferiority took hold in the United
 States. This environment catalyzed technological innovation, particularly in
defense and communication.
 Story of ARPA Creation: In 1957, the Soviet launch of Sputnik led the
U.S. to create the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), focusing
on cutting-edge technology that could ensure American superiority.
1960s: The Birth of Networking Concepts
1962
 J.C.R. Licklider’s Vision: Psychologist and computer scientist J.C.R.
Licklider wrote about an “Intergalactic Computer Network.” His ideas laid
the foundation for what would eventually become the Internet, envisioning
computers communicating with each other seamlessly.
1965
 First Wide-Area Network (WAN) Experiment: Lawrence Roberts,
working at MIT, connected computers over a telephone line, demonstrating
the potential for data communication between distant systems. This
marked the first step toward large-scale networking.
1969
 Birth of ARPANET: Funded by the U.S. Department of Defense,
ARPANET was the world’s first packet-switching network. The first
message, “LO” (intended to be “LOGIN”), was sent between UCLA and the
Stanford Research Institute but crashed mid-transmission—a simple yet
monumental moment.
1970s: The Foundation of Modern Networking
1971
 The First Email: Email was invented by Ray Tomlinson, who introduced
the “@” symbol to separate user names from computer names. Email
rapidly became the ARPANET’s most popular service. Ray Tomlinson sent
the first-ever email, choosing the “@” symbol to separate user names from
computer names. This innovation became the backbone of digital
communication.
1973
 International Expansion: ARPANET went global when a node was added
in Norway, marking the first international connection and setting the stage
for a global communication network.
 The concept of networking protocols took a leap forward with Robert
Kahn and Vinton Cerf designing TCP/IP (Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol). TCP/IP would later become the standard
protocol for the Internet.
1974
 The Term ‘Internet’: Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn proposed a new protocol
called TCP (Transmission Control Protocol). It was during this period that
 the term “Internet” was used for the first time, referring to their idea of
interconnected networks.
1976
 Queen Elizabeth II sent her first email, making her one of the first heads of
state to communicate using this emerging technology.
1978
 Birth of TCP/IP Protocol: Cerf and Kahn’s development of TCP/IP
became the primary protocol suite for the Internet, establishing a
standardized method for network communication.
 The first spam email was sent by a marketer named Gary Thuerk to
ARPANET users, marking the beginning of digital marketing (though it was
highly controversial).
1980s: From Academic Network to Public Service
1983
 Transition to TCP/IP: On January 1, 1983, ARPANET switched entirely to
TCP/IP, marking the official birth of the modern Internet as we know it. This
event is celebrated as the beginning of all Internet communications.
 The Domain Name System (DNS): Paul Mockapetris invented the DNS,
introducing domains like .com, .org, and .edu, making the Internet more
user-friendly.
1984
 The Domain Name System (DNS) was introduced, creating recognizable
addresses such as “.com,” “.org,” and “.net.” This simplified the way people
accessed websites, making it more user-friendly.
1985
 First Registered Domain Name: Symbolics.com became the first domain
name to be registered, marking the beginning of domain name usage that
would soon become central to Internet navigation.
1989
 The World Wide Web is Conceived: Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist
working at CERN, proposed an idea for a distributed information system
that became the World Wide Web. His goal was to create a way to link and
access documents over the Internet using hyperlinks.
1990s: The Rise of the Web and Commercial Internet
1990
 WWW Code Released: Berners-Lee wrote the first web page editor and
browser, and the WWW was officially born. It was the dawn of websites
and web pages. Berners-Lee developed the first web browser and web
server, bringing his idea of the World Wide Web to life. This marked the
 beginning of web browsing and laid the foundation for websites and
content sharing.
 ARPANET Shutdown: ARPANET, which had become obsolete, was
decommissioned, officially passing the torch to the modern Internet.
1991
 The World Wide Web was publicly released, enabling people to share and
access documents and websites through a standardized system.
1993
 Mosaic Browser: Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina developed Mosaic, the
first popular web browser that brought a graphical interface to the web.
This innovation allowed non-technical people to explore the web easily.
 The Mosaic web browser was introduced, making the Web accessible to
everyday users by incorporating graphics and an easy-to-use interface.
This helped fuel the Internet’s exponential growth.
1994
 Launch of Netscape: Netscape Navigator became the first widely used
commercial web browser and played a huge role in making the Internet
more accessible to everyday users.
 Amazon and Yahoo! were founded, symbolizing the rise of e-commerce
and online search services.
1995
 Commercialization of the Internet: Netscape went public, igniting the
“browser wars” with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. eBay also launched,
furthering the commercial potential of the Web.
 World Wide Web Consortium (W3C): Tim Berners-Lee founded the W3C
to standardize web protocols and ensure the growth of the Internet as a
free and open platform.
 The introduction of the Java programming language allowed dynamic
content to be created on web pages.
1998
 Google’s Founding: Larry Page and Sergey Brin launched Google,
fundamentally changing how people accessed information. Its search
algorithm quickly became the most efficient way to find information online.
2000s: The Explosion of Social Media and Mobile Internet
2001
 Wikipedia Launched: A free, collaborative online encyclopedia, Wikipedia
became one of the most visited websites on the Internet, transforming the
way knowledge was shared.
2004
 Facebook is Born: Originally a social network for college students,
Facebook now known as Meta (founded by Mark Zuckerberg) rapidly
expanded to become one of the largest social platforms in the world.
2005
 YouTube’s Founding: The video-sharing platform YouTube transformed
content creation and consumption, giving rise to video blogging (vlogging)
and viral content.
2007
 Launch of the iPhone: Apple’s iPhone ushered in the era of mobile
Internet. With touchscreens and powerful web browsers, the mobile
revolution accelerated Internet adoption worldwide.
2008
 The Google Chrome browser debuted, offering faster browsing speeds
and setting new standards for web performance.
2010s: The Age of Connectivity, Apps, and Social Influence
2010
 Instagram Launched: Focused on sharing photos and short videos,
Instagram changed the landscape of social media and influencer culture.
2011
 Snapchat was founded, introducing ephemeral content and reshaping how
people communicate online.
2013
 Edward Snowden Revelations: Leaks by former NSA contractor Edward
Snowden exposed the extent of global digital surveillance, sparking
worldwide debate about online privacy and government oversight.
2015
 Internet of Things (IoT): The term gained popularity as devices from
thermostats to cars became connected to the Internet, transforming
everyday objects into “smart” devices.
2016
 Artificial Intelligence and Internet Integration: AI technologies, chatbots,
and smart assistants like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant became
part of everyday Internet usage.
2018
 GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) was enforced in the
European Union, highlighting privacy concerns and regulating how
companies handle user data.
2020s: The Era of Remote Work and AI Integration
2020
 COVID-19 Pandemic: The Internet became even more essential during
the pandemic, with remote work, online education, and virtual events
becoming the norm. Services like Zoom saw exponential growth.
2021
 The Metaverse concept gained traction, with major tech companies
like Meta (formerly Facebook) exploring virtual reality spaces for
socialization, work, and commerce.
2022
 Web3 and Decentralization: Conversations around Web3, blockchain,
decentralized finance (DeFi), and cryptocurrencies captured global
attention, promising a more decentralized Internet structure.
2024
 AI Dominance and Internet Personalization: AI continues to shape user
experiences online. From advanced content recommendations to seamless
digital assistants, personalization remains a key driver for the future of the
Internet.
 Continued expansion of 5G technology and discussions around AI
ethics shape the modern Internet, influencing how connectivity is managed
and regulated worldwide.

Emerging internet as a Mass Medium

 It is a new mass medium and a forceful one too, which has become an integral part of other
mass media as well as the media supporting industries- public relations and advertising.
 The Internet is not only a mass medium but is also a global medium with a potential to reach
everyone on the globe.
 It is also a unique channel for mass communication which has challenged concepts of a
mass medium.
Introduction - Understanding the Internet
 The International Network commonly abridged to Internet simply means a global network of
millions of computer networks.
 It is a network of all computer networks worldwide or plainly a network of networks.
 The Internet allows for instantaneous exchange of information to and from any part of the
globe. Through its electronic mail often referred to as email for short, instant messaging or
chat facilities, the Internet makes it possible for people to communicate with others both at
the interpersonal and mass levels of communication.
 It also allows its users’ access to volumes of information available on the World Wide Web.
 Data more voluminous than any known encyclopedia can be transferred from one part of the
world to the farthest part of the globe at the speed of light. Thus users can download or
upload information at a startling speed.
A recent development of the Internet is its social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Tagged, hi 5,
and My Space that are excellent in enhancing the interactional and socialization dimensions of mass
communication.
Social media, as they are now called, are networking people into indeed one global village where
everyone gets to know of what is happening in everyone else’s life even as the events unfold.
 Many people keep daily diaries of their life events and activities on the social media and their
friends can partake or react to such posts instantaneously.
  For Arens (2006: 540) discussing the digital interactive media and the information highway,
“the highway is the Internet and it is already the fastest growing medium in history.”
The Internet as a Medium of Mass Communication
Not too long ago many communication scholars had problem accepting the Internet as an emerging
mass communication medium. But a critical scrutiny of the features of the classical mass
communication media such as radio, television, newspapers and magazines shows the Internet
exhibiting the same qualities. Such analysis puts the Internet on an equal platform with the old mass
media if not on a higher position. A look at these attributes will drive home the point.
i. Reach: A medium is said to have a good reach or coverage if it has the ability to expose a large
number of people to a given mass media message within a given period. In the words of Rossiter
(1997) reach is the “number of target audience individuals exposed to the advertising or promotion in
an advertising circle” (p. 447). Frequencies restrict the reach of radio and television media to a
limited region or territory (except if they are enabled by the Internet boundless waves or satellite
orbits). The circulation of print newspapers and magazines depend on manual distribution. This is a
strong limitation as newspapers from Nigeria, for example, cannot reach people in even the
neighbouring countries through such vehicle –assisted distribution system. But when enhanced on the
Internet, the online version has no boundaries. An electronic newspaper can be accessed from any
part of the world where there is an Internet network.

The Internet, on the other hand, has the potential to reach everyone hooked up to an Internet-enabled
system. Its services or network can be received anywhere without any restriction through any of the
Internet Service Providers (ISP). That some people do not have computers or Internet connection is
not a weakness of the medium, after all, some people too cannot afford TV sets and therefore cannot
receive TV signals. So the Internet has the capacity to reach a large audience and even a larger
audience than some conventional mass media especially print newspapers and magazines. In fact, the
Internet is not only a mass medium but is also a global medium with a potential to reach everyone on
the globe. Arens (2006) noted “that with an audience of some 800 million people worldwide, the
Internet is also the only true global medium, providing information and commerce opportunities that
are immediately accessible around the world” (p. 558). Hanson (2005) argued that “by inventing the
WWW, Tim Berners Lee, the British physicist, created the software that allows the Internet to work
as a medium of mass communication”
Edmund Lee (http://adage.com/article/mediaworks/charlie-sheen-verified-twitter-account-fast/
149171/) on March 2, 2011 posted a shocking article retrieved March 25, 2011 on how Charlie Sheen
signed up for a Twitter account and in less than 24hours more than 900,000 of his fans had connected
to him. Well, it might be argued that this is not an everyday experience since Charlie Sheen is a
Hollywood celebrity who cashed on his existing media popularity. Yet it is an indication of the
potential of the Internet to reach a large audience almost simultaneously. President Obama of
America has about... fans on his page, similarly, President Goodluck Jonathan has about…fans on his
page. Even some individuals who have no previous popularity record have amassed huge contacts on
their pages. The point being made here is that the Internet especially through the social networks can
boast of a large reach or coverage like other mass medium, if not more.
ii. Simultaneity of Reception: Another feature of the traditional mass media is simultaneity, which is
the ability of the medium to transmit the message to audience members at the same time or nearly the
same time. Hanson (2005) underlined that “mass communication messages are transmitted rapidly to
the receivers. Audience members can receive the message simultaneously, as they would in the case
of a radio broadcast; at similar though not identical times, as in the case of a newspaper or magazine;
and occasionally over an extended period, as in the case of CD, movie or video ” .
Perhaps, the greatest weakness of the Internet as a mass communication channel lies in its poor
capacity to be accessed simultaneously by the mass audience. Yet, apart from radio and television
that broadcast transient messages simultaneously to the receivers, all other mass media are to some
degree equally have this deficiency. Newspapers, magazines, billboards, books and the Internet
cannot be accessed at the same time. Nevertheless, their permanent nature as opposed to the transient
nature of radio and TV messages counters this weakness since people can access them even moments
after they are transmitted.
In itself, the Internet has the potential to reach everyone who is connected at the same second just as
radio and TV signals can be received at once by all who tune in to the same channel. However, in
reality, the possibility of many being hooked up online all at the same time, and surfing through the
same website is very slim. Nevertheless, not even radio, TV and much less newspapers and
magazines can hope to achieve simultaneity of reception especially with our contemporary multi-
channel phenomenon. The impossibility of this is compounded by the countless number of
alternative media options. In our media saturated world, what chances are there that a mass audience
will all tune in to the same radio or TV station simultaneously when there are pretty too many
options? So the Internet gambles for a mass audience as the other media are also forced to do in our
media-saturated- era. Just as no medium or any particular media house can promise to command a
mass patronage or reception of any of its messages in modern society because of the exploding media
options, similarly the Internet may not easily communicate to a mass audience simultaneously. With
the advent of new media technologies the possibility of a national media is no more feasible; rather
most media now engage in narrowcasting, niche marketing or targeting. With a plethora of viewing
options, the media audience has been fragmented. Audience fragmentation or segmentation and
narrowcasting are features of our digital technology driven society.
Yet by routing a message in some popular websites such as Yahoo, Google, Facebook, AOL,
Hotmail etc which are visited by many people world-wide, the possibility of simultaneous mass
communication is enhanced. For example, during the inauguration speech of Barrack Obama –
America’s 1st black president – countless number of peoples from around the globe watched the
telecast simultaneously on some of these websites. Besides, if about a thousand 5
surfers from every country visit the website at the same time, when that is added up worldwide, we
have a number that is larger than what can just be described as a mass
audience.
iii. Anonymity: A mass communication channel allows the sender to reach a large, heterogeneous
and anonymous audience. Because of the number involved, the audience is a mixed group and the
sender cannot personally know most of them. The producers of a webcast, a webzine, an on-line
newspaper or a popular corporate website cannot know the individual audience members who would
visit their sites. The audience members on their part may also not know the sender of such online
messages or information.

Besides, what can be more anonymous than the cyber experience where people exchange views and
mails online with other people they have never seen or met outside the virtual world of the Internet?
For example, when a producer of media content on Facebook (one of the popular Internet social
networks) who has 2, 000 people in his network posts any information on his page or wall, he
wouldn’t know who among these 2, 000 people would see his post and there is no way he can know
all of them personally. So while the Internet has the potentials for interpersonal communication, it
equally enables people to communicate with an anonymous audience or group.
iv. Heterogeneity of Audience: If a medium of mass communication must reach a heterogeneous and
spatially dispersed audience, then no other medium does it better than the Internet. The Internet
audience are a thoroughly mixed group in sex, age, location, status, class, race and culture. They can
be spatially dispersed both in reality and in the virtual world.

v. Dual Outreach: In fact, the Internet has an added advantage since it can be adapted for both a
narrow and mass reach depending on the users need. It has the potential for both global marketing
and narrowcasting to a specialized or segmented audience. What is more, in the same manner that
radio and TV can switch from one language to the other, the Internet can be accessed in most popular
languages spoken in different parts of the world. So not even language is a barrier here unlike for
books, newspapers, magazines and billboards that are limited by language. Its barrier though is
technological illiteracy barrier, because one must have some level of computer proficiency before he
can access the Internet. Accessibility too can limit the Internet and this too will soon be in the past as
Internet threatens to become cheaper and more easily accessible. Biagi (2005) confirmed that: “the
Web is a new medium, but its growth to become a true mass medium for a majority of people
seeking information and entertainment is limited only by digital technology and economics” (p. 191).
It is a medium limited only by technology and economics.

Measured against the above benchmarks for assessing a mass communication tool, it has been proved
beyond logic with enough evidence that the Internet is a mass medium of communication and indeed
an effective mass medium capable of reaching a very large, mixed and anonymous audience.
Joshua Gans (http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/03/facebook_is_the_largest_news_o.html) in an article
titled ‘Facebook is the largest news organization ever’ posted on March 11, 2011 and retrieved on
March 25, 2011 argued that ‘Facebook is a fully fledged news organization on a scale we have never
seen. News organizations do two major things, commercially speaking: they use news to grab
attention and then sell that attention to advertisers.’ And this, of course is what Facebook and other
social networks are doing subtly. The writer observes that Facebook not only provides a platform
whereby individuals become reporters, editors, and publishers but the medium offers a compelling
proposition to advertisers because a good number of people go there every day even if they are not
likely to spend more than a few minutes there. He goes further to compare some features of
Facebook to that of a typical newspaper such as news delivery, providing room for opinions and
entertainment.
Facebook is delivering on the first task of the news organization. Some Facebook friends might
express opinions, but more often they are reporting facts. What is more, because these facts are
reported to social connections, they are actually accurate. Nothing binds one to the truth more than
the accountability of an ongoing personal relationship. Do you ever hear it exclaimed, "I heard on
Facebook that your train broke down and that turned out to be an exaggeration"? Facebook knows
this. The company even calls it a "News Feed." And it is peppered with other news stories coming
from mainstream outlets your friends have shared. You can read it like a newspaper (postpost.com)
or a magazine (Flipboard for the iPad). Even the games, jokes, surveys, and other attention-grabbing
activities on Facebook have a long provenance in newspapers, which are full of games (crosswords
and Sudoku), jokes (the comics), and polls. These are a long-standing part of the news experience. 7
The Internet as a Unique Mass Medium
The next task in this work which is the major contribution of this paper is to x-ray ways in which the
Internet is distinct from other mass media in order to understand why this paper qualifies it as the
medium of all mass media. The Internet’s uniqueness extends also to alter some old definitions of
mass communication and demands a revisit of some old concepts of mass communication.
1. Ability to Enhance the Performance of Other Media: A major edge or distinctiveness of the
Internet over the old or existing mass media lies in its ability to enhance the performance of the other
media. In fact, it can be safely said that the Internet has become an indispensable part of radio,
television, newspaper and magazine’s effective and successful existence. The old mass media have
continued to enhance their relevance by hooking up to the Internet. In a very short time, it will be
inconceivable to think of any media outfit that can survive without supporting itself with an online
version of its productions. Therefore, the Internet can aptly be called not just a mass medium but also
the medium of the mass media because it is also a channel through which the other media enhance
their relevance or overcome their own limitations of frequencies, circulation or transiency. Through
the Internet medium, the contents of the other media: radio, TV, books, magazines, and newspapers
are relayed to a wider audience.

2. Flexibility of Usage: What is more, the Internet has the potential to function as radio, television,
newspaper or magazine depending on the user’s need. No other known mass medium has this unique
ability of functioning as a different medium in different circumstances. The user therefore decides
what medium to make of the Internet. Radio can never be used as a television medium, neither can
newspaper ever become radio or serve the purpose of a magazine. But the Internet can swap its
nature by a single mouse click. Still related to this Internet flexibility, Hanson (2005) added that “the
thing that makes computer based communication so powerful is that it includes virtually every level
of communication, from the interpersonal communication of e-mail and instant messaging to the
mass communication of the World Wide Web” (p. 272).

3. Ability to Combine Features of Other Media: As a result of this flexibility nature, it combines
all the strengths of the old mass media such as visual ability of TV and the print media; motion
picture potential of TV and film, sound ability of radio, TV and film, retrieval and permanent nature
of books and the print media. What a medium!

4. Ability to Empower Audience as Active Users: Before the advent of the Internet, receivers were
merely seen as audience members whose contribution to the communication process was limited to
passively absorbing whatever the senders had to offer. Their choice was very limited beyond tuning
off from the channel or media content. With the invention of cable and its consequent many channels
availability, the audience had greater choices to make concerning what media content to consume
and when. The arrival of the remote control empowered them more since they would not even need
to get up from their seats to change to any station. But the control was indeed a remote one.

However, when the Internet came on board, they ceased to be merely a passive audience on the
consumption lane but they quickly transformed to active users who select not only what medium to
use, but which of its many contents to consume. A television sports fan who wants to watch the news
on a television channel is kept hostage as a typical audience member from the beginning of the news
cast to the end before he is satisfied. On the Internet he quickly goes to the sports link thus
controlling the communication process and using the media as he wants.
5. A Medium for Two-Way Communication: The Internet users are equally engaged actively in the
production aspect of the communication process. They respond to messages and also create their own
messages. It is indeed a mass medium with a difference which offers both the sender and the receiver
equal opportunities in the communication process; and both are simply referred to as users. Hanson
(2005) observed that the Internet became a full-fledged mass communication network in the 1990s,
although its beginnings dates back to 1969. Rather than simply making it easier for individuals and
organizations to send messages to a mass audience, the new computer networks are designed for two-
way communication. Audience members who were once passive receivers could now send messages
back to the original senders thus becoming message providers themselves. Thus there is no fixed
status of sender or receiver in this new communication setting. This interchangeability of sender –
receiver roles is not a unique feature of the Internet. A newspaper reader who sends a letter to the
editor may have become also a sender but the Internet’s potential for instantaneous feedback is
perhaps what makes it stand out in this ability.
6. The Internet Challenges Conventional Concepts of Mass Communication: The Internet has
also challenged the conventional understanding of the mass communication sender as always an
organized, complex and expensive system. Today mass communication on the Internet is not
necessarily the product of a large, complex and sophisticated organization such as the Nigerian
Television Authority (NTA). Even a single individual can use the Internet to generate and sustain
communication with a very large and mixed (mass) group. Neither must mass communication be an
expensive or capital-intensive- investment as that of setting a broadcast station or floating a
newspaper. All one needs for Internet mass communication may be a computer and an Internet
modem.

Dominick (2007) asserted that the WWW “brings the Internet into the realm of mass communication
and reverses the traditional pattern of one-to-many communication. Web sites offer everybody the
chance to become mass communicators, mass communication is never guaranteed, but the potential
is there….The affordability of this channel can make anybody an electronic publisher with access to
a potential audience of millions, thus creating a whole new type of mass communicator” (p.17).

7. The Internet has a Worldwide Audience: With development and time, the Internet might even
dare to become the primary mass medium as ubiquitous as every man’s radio. Oyewole (2007)
concurred that the Internet has become a “dominant infrastructure in the modern society.” Similarly,
O’ Guinn, Allen and Semenik (2006) documented that in 2006 it was estimated that there are about
1.3 billion Internet users worldwide which represents only about 20 percent of the world’s
population. Yet, though the Internet, like many communication technologies started rather upscale, it
is now broadening to middle – and lower income consumers with the advent of more affordable
computers. Wireless technology will spread the application even further and faster to poor countries
that cannot afford the infrastructure needed for wired connections. Citing Cha (2005) in an article
published in Providence Journal, Baran (2009) similarly estimated that there are at least 1 billion
users worldwide. Any current study on the Internet audience will definitely reveal a further geometric
multiplication of the figures quoted in 2005 and 2006 above.