Internet Trends in 2020 and the Future
The internet as a whole is fascinating. Not only because it offers us new ways to interact with the world but also because of its sheer size, with about 90% of it we can’t even see. People have always had a fascination with the unknown. It may be one of the reasons why so many are interested in the Deep Web and what it is. The Deep Web makes almost the entire bulk of the World Wide Web with what we know as the regular web, being only a tiny fraction of it. It refers to parts of the internet that are not indexed by a regular search engine, therefore making it hard to access. They lie just under the regular websites that people often visit daily, often referred to as the Surface Web.
The exact size of the Deep Web is not known, however, some studies suggest that it could be around 7.2 petabytes. One petabyte is a thousand terabytes and there were claims that what websites we usually know, such as social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and others, account to only 1% of the entire internet.
Most People Use The Internet for Social Media
Despite being just 1%, these platforms have become interwoven in our daily lives and we use them as a means to connect with people, as well as for business and entertainment purposes. Since these major platforms were developed, they went through many changes. Social media can be viewed as a kind of hidden fabric that keeps the internet together and social networking with collaboration has become necessary in any business endeavour.
Another element we can look at is blockchain technology. Although it is often associated with cryptocurrency, blockchain can also be used in other areas such as social media, more specifically, a decentralized social media, were no single entity is responsible for user’s privacy and data, and can lead to a more trustworthy and collaborative environment., were a users trust barrier can be more easily overcome and able to participate on the social platform. Social network communities are getting larger and larger and can create social groups where people with similar interests can join and participate in.
Social media has become integrated in many aspects of our lives and we can see it having a presence in other forms of entertainment. Gaming for example, has become more social in the past few years and many aspects of social media have been integrated in the gameplay experience. This can be seen in online gambling, with free to play social casino gaining popularity as well as regular online casino platforms. Also, most of the games released in our time, come with some sort of social features to enhance the player experience as well as providing more engagement with other people.
The Rise of Podcasts
Podcasts have become a major trend on social media with a channel like the Joe Rogan Experience having around a few million views per on each Youtube video. Many were with the idea that listening to a few hours of people talking is not something that would be of interest to people, but from what we have seen, the majority enjoy this type of content. It allows ideas to be explored on a more detailed level. Rather than a 10-15 minute Youtube video regarding a specific subject, a podcast can fully explore ideas due to a large amount of time that they run.
Many of Joe Rogan’s guests were respected people from different areas such as science, music, cinema, sports and also entrepreneurs such as the real-world Tony Stark, Elon Musk. This way of communicating ideas is well received by people compared to what we have been used to on old media. Other being political debates, presentations or other forms of communication, nothing compares to light podcasts where opinions can be deeply explored and information can be transmitted to the fullest with 2 people just having a relaxed conversation.
Live features of social media are starting to be used by more and more people and is reaching a point where it has become the main feature of social media. We can see this at streaming platforms like Twitch in general but Youtube and Facebook also have their streaming service. Now with even faster internet speeds such as 5G technology upon us, it will be interesting to see how the internet will be affected. No doubt that with the additional speed, it will prove to be beneficial nonetheless.
The Internet of Things and Its Rising Popularity
We can also see where the future usage of the internet is headed with IoT (Internet of Things) devices. The smart home has become a trend. Many people have incorporated smart devices into their households such as Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa. It is the belief that almost everything in a person’s home can be connected to the internet is some form or another.
The internet of things is not only being adopted by households, but businesses as well and many more will adopt them especially now, with the availability of 5G technology. When it comes to some many devices being connected, the issue of security starts to become an important aspect of these technologies.
