Internet Services

As an industry, the Internet is one of the most dynamic and evolving sectors of the U.S. and world economies. Growth in the use of the Internet has been phenomenal. While it is difficult to come up with exact figures, its estimated that 96 percent of U.S. adults and over 94 percent of Canadians of all ages used the Internet in 2024, according to the Pew Research Center and Statista.com, respectively. As the general public's access to the Internet has grown, the ways in which the Internet can be used have also increased. E-commerce (business-to-business sales and business-to-consumer sales), advertising, distance education programs, banking, e-filing tax forms, Web conferencing, and bill payment are just a few of the Internet applications now available.

The Internet industry itself is as varied as the products and services it delivers. Internet service providers (ISP), such as cable companies Comcast and Spectrum, provide businesses and consumers with Internet access. Search engine companies, such as Google and Yahoo!, maintain specialized Web sites that index Web sites and help users find information on the World Wide Web. Countless e-commerce companies sell products online. These range from online retailers (Amazon) to digital stores for brick-and-mortar businesses (Best Buy) to sites that allow individuals to sell directly to other individuals (eBay). Internet companies such as Microsoft and Oracle develop cutting-edge hardware and software to keep the Internet running. Others, such as McAfee and CrowdStrike, produce cybersecurity programs for average computer users as well as international businesses and government agencies. Advertising, marketing, and sales companies drive much of the business transacted online.

Many companies capitalize on the Internet as a medium. User-generated content and free content provided by media companies is a staple of the Internet. Likewise, social media companies, such as Facebook and YouTube, have garnered enormous followings by offering users a free platform supported by advertising revenue to share their ideas, pictures, and videos. Online gaming companies have also been wildly successful with massive multi-player online role-playing games, such as World of Warcraft, and simple social games, such as Words with Friends and Wordle. Online gambling has also grown in popularity.

All of this activity, though, occurs because the many branches of the Internet industry work together to keep things running as smoothly as possible. But the Internet is constantly changing. Technology, consumer preferences, and other industry developments will make today’s Internet almost unrecognizable in the future. The growth of mobile computing is changing the way content is prepared and viewed and how advertisers reach potential customers. A number of different trends are shaping the evolution of the industry.

Social commerce is a subsector of e-commerce that relies on social media to sell products and services by allowing users of services, such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok, to purchase things promoted by their “friends,” “followers,” and other users. McKinsey & Company says that social commerce is “already too big for U.S. brands to ignore. In fact, it has the potential to become their best channel, given the possibilities for new levels of engagement with consumers and the opportunity to hyper-target customer segments. Because consumers are both discovering and buying products in one medium, social commerce merges marketing and retail channels into a single dynamic universe.” Social commerce revenue in the United States reached $64.8 billion in 2023, according to Statista.com. It predicts that revenue will increase to nearly $150 billion in 2028. There were approximately 106.8 million social buyers in 2023, and this number will grow to more than 118 million by 2028.

Users are increasingly turning to the Internet for video. Online videos reached 92 percent of the global digital population at the end of 2023, according to Statista. The number of video viewers on mobile devices has skyrocketed along with smartphone ownership, which Pew Research estimated was 90 percent in 2023.

With smartphones and tablets, people can stay connected almost anywhere they go with access to media and services available only from a desktop computer in the past. They have become "digital omnivores," using multiple devices to do research, make purchases, and socialize online. In response, the efforts of Internet companies to make media available for mobile platforms and to target advertising to mobile users have surged.

Internet advertising revenue continues to increase in terms of revenue totals and market share. "Total media ad spend in the U.S. will reach $389.49 billion this year [2024]," according to EMARKETER.com. "Over three-quarters (77.7 percent) of that will go toward digital channels like mobile, desktop/laptop, and connected TV."

Cloud computing, in which data is stored on servers as opposed to local devices, also is growing in popularity. Grand View Research says that revenue in the global cloud computing market size is estimated to reach more than $2.3 trillion by 2030, increasing at a compound annual growth rate of 21.2 percent from 2024 to 2030. The market intelligence firm says that the "rising adoption of cloud-native applications across diverse sectors like banking and supply chain automation is driving demand. These applications offer businesses a faster and more efficient way to develop, manage, and roll out web services. Secondly, the increasing use of cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and 5G is further propelling the market."

The industry also faces many challenges.

Use of personal information for advertising and marketing purposes and concerns about government access to private data shared in social media or stored online has generated some backlash directed against Facebook, Google, and similar companies. At the same time, awareness of security issues is growing. Viruses and other malware present constant threats to computers connected to the Internet, as do hackers who attack Web sites and individual users, and criminals who trick people into divulging sensitive information through phishing e-mails and other deceptions.

On other fronts, technology has made it easy to steal or pirate copyrighted films, television shows, music, video games, digital publications, and other content. Online piracy costs the U.S. economy nearly $77 billion annually, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Despite the efforts of copyright owners to fight piracy, the task remains difficult due to differences in copyright law around the world. Another concern is Internet censorship, the limiting of access to or suppression of information on the Internet, most often carried out by governments, especially those with repressive policies.

Perhaps even more troubling are increases in cyberbullying and cyberstalking, people using the Internet to abuse, stalk, or otherwise harass their victims while maintaining their anonymity. In 2022, the Pew Research Center reported that 46 percent of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 said that they had experienced at least one of six cyberbullying behaviors asked about by the center. (The categories were: "offensive name-calling; spreading of false rumors about them; receiving explicit images they didn’t ask for; physical threats; constantly being asked where they are, what they’re doing, or who they’re with by someone other than a parent; and having explicit images of them shared without their consent." In some cases, cyberbullying has caused victims to commit suicide. Cyberstalking has led to real-world violence by stalkers, who used the Internet to track their victims.

As the Internet continues to grow, the industry and its workforce will become broader and more varied. While no one can say with certainty where the Internet will take us, it is clear that more professionals will become involved in both its development and use.