As of January 20th, 2008 internetworldstats.com estimates the number of Internet users at 1,319,520,109, with a penetration rate of 20.0 %. This means that one out of every five people in the world have used the Internet, a truly remarkable statistic.

Through keyword-driven Internet research using search engines, like Google, Yahoo!, and MSN, millions of people worldwide have easy, instant access to a vast and diverse amount of online information. The World Wide Web has enabled a sudden and extreme decentralization of information and data and has allowed companies to offer their services and products to customers where it was not possible before. The Internet has created new opportunities for small and big companies and has changed the way business is done.