I’m still in awe of how much data we create — and how fast that number moves.
Back in 2011, I was amazed that users created 600+ new videos and 60 new blog posts every minute … and I was talking about how many people I saw at the mall (though it was decreasing …)
The Internet is both timeless and timely in an interesting way. While what’s popular seems to be ever-changing, what it does (and what we are capable of doing with it) continues to grow exponentially. Ultimately, the Internet is the digital town square of a global village, where all types of participants gather.
In 2011, I first wrote about what happens on the Internet in 60 seconds.
I’ve since updated the article a few times.
Each time I write the article, I’m in awe of the amount of data we create and how much it has grown. For example, looking back to 2011, I was amazed that users created 600+ new videos and 60 new blog posts each minute. Those numbers seem quaint compared to current figures.
via LocaliQ (January 14, 2026)
Today, the Internet reaches approximately 6.2 billion people. Most of them also use social media.
To add some more perspective,
- In 2008, 1.4 billion people were online; by 2015, that number was 3 billion. Now, that number has doubled again.
- In 2008, Facebook had only 80 million users, and Twitter (now X) had 2 million.
- In 2008, there were 250 million smartphones; now there are over 7 billion!
It is mind-blowing to consider what happens on the Internet every minute today.
In 2023, the world created approximately 120 zettabytes of data, which breaks down to about 337,000 petabytes per day. Broken down further, that’s more than 15 Terabytes of new data created per person… now scale that with the rapid growth of Generative AI, and even another billion internet users.
A growing share of what fills an internet minute is now generated by systems — models answering models, agents writing to other agents, sensors reporting to services nobody reads.
Globally, generative AI platforms receive roughly 2.5 billion prompts and serve between 115 million and 600 million daily active users. Over 1 billion people use AI tools each month, and ChatGPT alone reaches over 900 million weekly users.
Can you imagine how much data that is a day? Can you imagine how much more data will be created in five years?
It’s still too early to tell whether the scale will be exponential … or logarithmic. Regardless, I think we’re moving to a post-human tipping point where technology starts to drive more of what happens on the internet (as more devices and digital WHOs create and share data, it’s hard to fathom the ramifications and the sheer volume of data), and beyond that … we’re entering an era where an increasing amount of data will be generated in space.
So, while a lot already happens on the internet every minute… I believe the safe bet is that it will move even faster next year… even if human usage stays exactly the same.
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