Exploring the Internet Mission Field

Most of the following statistics are taken directly from various resources found at the Pew Internet and American Life Project

How many people are on the Internet?

• North America has approximately 223,392,807 internet users
• This is approximately 68% of the population
• A 106.7 % growth since 2000
• About 97 million people use it each day
• 63% of the adults in the country
• 81% of the nation’s teenagers

• Worldwide there are approximately 938,710,929 users
  • Approx. 14.6 % of the population
  • A 160.0 % growth since 2000 

Online Population Stats: Growth Continues

• Internet usage among all countries continue to increase
• Significant growth has occurred in:
  • Africa
  • The Middle East
  • Latin America

Matthew 9

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

What are people doing on the Internet?

On a typical day:

• 5 million people post or share some kind of material on the Web through their own Web logs (or “blogs”) or other content-creating applications;
• at least 4 million share music files on peer-to-peer networks;
• 3 million people use the internet to rate a person, product or service.

Pew Internet and American Life Project – Trends 2005

Online Activities

• Send e-mail – 91%
• Use a search engine to find information – 84%
• Search for a map or driving directions – 84%
• Do an internet search to answer a specific question – 80%
• Research a product or service before buying it – 78%
• 77% - Look for info on a hobby or interest
• 72% - Get news
• 66% - Look for health/medical info
• 58% - Look for political news/info
• 58% - Go to a website that provides info or support for a specific medical condition or personal situation
• 57% - Research for school or training
• 56% - Watch a video clip or listen to an audio clip

Important Observations

1. Many of the activities involve information gathering and searching.  While on the net, people are in the information gathering mode. 

2. People are also conducting relationship-based activity.