Mama, We’re All Connected Now…

By John Freeman on July 28, 2008

Good news for online comic creators comes via research from KenRadio.com (registration required) that nearly a quarter of the world’s population – roughly 1.4 billion people – will use the Internet on a regular basis in 2008.

This number is expected to surpass 1.9 billion unique users, or 30% of the world’s population, in 2012,, which means that the Internet will have added its second billion users over a span of about eight years, a testament to both its universal appeal and its availability.

By the end of 2008, the research suggests, the Internet will be more deeply integrated into the fabric of many users’ personal and professional lives, enabling them to work, play, and socialize anytime from anywhere. These trends will accelerate as the number of mobile users continues to soar and the Internet becomes truly ubiquitous.

The PC is still currently the dominant means of gaining access to the Internet,, but only in certain countires. In many third world countries people access the web via their mobiles and the number of mobile devices accessing the Internet is now expected to surpass the number of online PCs by 2012.

So what are all these millions of surfers doing online? Once on the Internet, it’s expected users will continue to spend time on Web 1.0 activities like searching, shopping, and sending email. But Web 2.0 activities, such as watching user-generated videos (Youtube, MetaCafe), streaming media / VOD (Hulu, ABC.com), posting blogs (Blogger, Typepad), and participating in social networks such as Facebook and Myspace are quickly capturing the attention and time online of more and more Internet users.

The latter will create new opportunities and challenges for online businesses and advertisers. But it’s all good news for webcomic and mobile comic creators!

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.