Words by Simon Kemp
Art by Julia Maglalang
The 2018 Global Digital Reports from We Are Social and Hootsuite reveal that there are now more than 4 billion people around the world on the internet—that’s over half the world’s population online, with a quarter of a billion new users coming online in 2017. Africa has the fastest growth rates, with the a 20% increase. Much of this growth was driven by more affordable smartphones and mobile data plans. More than 200 million people got their first mobile device in 2017, and two-thirds of the world’s 7.6 billion inhabitants now have a mobile phone. More than half of the handsets in use today are ‘smart’ devices too, so it’s increasingly easy for people to enjoy a rich ‘connected’ experience wherever they are.
Social media use continues to grow rapidly with the number of users for the top platform in each country increasing by almost 1 million every day. More than 3 billion people around the world now use social media each month, with 9 in 10 of those users accessing their chosen platforms via mobile devices.
So, what does all of this valuable data tell us?
A BILLION YEARS ONLINE
It’s not just the number of users, but also the time people spend on the internet. The Global Web Index shows the average internet user now spends around six hours each day using internet-powered devices and services — that’s roughly one-third of their waking lives.With four billion internet users globally, that’s a staggering 1 billion years online in 2018.
DISTRIBUTING THE FUTURE
Internet access isn’t evenly distributed around the world, but things are starting to change. Regions like Central Africa and South Asia where internet penetration is low are seeing the fastest growth in internet adoption. Africans are up by more than 20 percent year-on-year, with the reported number of internet users in Mali increasing by almost six times since January 2017, and internet users in Benin, Sierra Leone, Niger, and Mozambique more than doubling over the past year. This isn’t just a story about ‘the next billion’, though. Accelerating access in developing economies impacts the internet experience for users everywhere, as companies like Google, Facebook, Alibaba and Tencent strive to deliver scalable global products that address the needs and contexts of these new users. These changes will have a profound influence on the future of the internet.
CONNECTIONS TO GO
More than two-thirds of the world’s population is now on mobile, with the majority owning smartphones. The number of unique mobile users around the world is up by more than four percent year-on-year, although penetration rates remain below 50 percent across much of Central Africa. Smartphones are the world’s preferred choice for going online, accounting for a greater share of web traffic than all other devices combined. What’s more, the latest data from App Annie shows people now spend 7 times longer on mobile apps compared to mobile web browsers, so mobile’s ‘share of internet’ is likely even higher than the figures above suggest.
Facebook’s data reinforces this: only 5 percent of its global user base does not use a mobile device to access the platform.
ORGANIC REACH CONTINUES TO FALL
We teamed up with Locowise to share details of Facebook reach and engagement for 179 countries around the world. As expected, organic reach and engagement have both dropped over the past year, with average reach down by more than 10 percent year-on-year. These numbers will be valuable benchmarks for marketers everywhere – especially because they offer insights into the number of brands using paid media.
E-COMMERCE SPEND JUMPS
The latest data from Statista’s Digital Market Outlook shows that the total value of the e-commerce market for consumer goods grew by 16 percent over the past year. Total annual spend in 2017 reached almost US$1.5 trillion, with fashion products representing the largest single category.Worldwide, the number of people using e-commerce platforms to buy consumer goods (e.g. fashion, food, electronics, and toys) grew by 8 percent, with almost 1.8 billion people around the world now buying online.Roughly 45 percent of all internet users now use e-commerce sites, but penetration varies considerably between countries.The amount that each person spends on e-commerce is also growing, with average revenues per user (ARPU) up by 7 percent year-on-year to reach US$833. The British are the biggest e-commerce spenders, with annual spend in the UK now greater than US$2,000 per user.It’s worth highlighting that these are just the figures for consumer goods; if we add spend on other categories such as travel, digital content, and mobile apps, total global e-commerce value is likely to be closer to US$2 trillion.
For the complete report, access the 2018 Global Digital Reports, which has data for more than 230 countries with the essential numbers to help you understand internet, social media, and mobile behaviors all over the world. world. For the full suite of reports, visit here.
About the Author:
Simon Kemp is a marketing strategist specializing in the future of digital who has developed brand and marketing strategies for companies such as Unilever, Google, Coca-Cola, Nestlé, and Diageo. His marketing books, guides, videos, and reports have been read and watched by millions of people. He is the founder of Kepios, a strategy consultancy that helps business leaders and marketers make sense of the future, especially digital and connected devices, as well as the global consultant for We Are Social, and Head of Asia Pacific for Contagious’s consulting division, Insider.
This article was published in the adobo magazine Trends 2018 issue.
