The GovLab Index - 2014

GovLab has just released “The GovLab Index: The Networked Public — January 2014”. The GovLab Index provides a concise highlight of global trends in internet use, social media, and mobile networking.  It presents some interesting findings and might be of interest to many working in the healthcare industry.

GovLab is housed at New York University (NYU) and is funded by grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.  GovLab aims to improve people’s lives by changing how we govern by seeking new ways to solve public problems using advances in technology and science.

The following are selected findings extracted from the latest version of The GovLab Index:

Global Overview

• The proportion of global population who use the Internet in 2013:  38.8%
• Increase in average global broadband speeds from 2012 to 2013:  17%
• Percent of internet users surveyed globally that access the internet at least once a day in 2012:  96%
• Country with the highest online population, as a percent of total population in 2012:  United Kingdom (85%)

Social Media

• How many online adults in the U.S. use a social networking site of some kind:  73%
• Those who use multiple social networking sites:  42%
• Dominant social networking platform:  Facebook, with 71% of online adults
• Number of monthly active users on Facebook in September 2013:  1.19 billion
• How many Facebook users log in to the site daily:  63%
• Fastest growing demographic on Facebook:  45-54 year age bracket, up 46% from 2012
• How much of the global internet population is actively using Twitter every month:  21%
• Twitter users who are daily visitors:  46%
• Fastest growing demographic on Twitter:  55-64 year age bracket, up 79% from 2012
• Percent of internet users surveyed globally that use social media daily:  60%
• How many times all Wikipedias are viewed per month:  nearly 22 billion times
• Platform that reaches more U.S. adults between ages 18-34 than any cable network:  YouTube
• Number of unique users who visit YouTube each month:  more than 1 billion
• Proportion of YouTube traffic that comes from outside the U.S.:  80%

Mobile & Internet of Things

• Number of global mobile phone users in 2013:  over 5 billion
• Number of global smartphone users in 2013:  1.5 billion
• Growth rate of global mobile traffic as a percentage of global internet traffic as of May 2013:  15%, up from .9% in 2009
• How many smartphone owners ages 18–44 “keep their phone with them for all but two hours of their waking day”:  79%
• Those who reach for their smartphone immediately upon waking up:  62%
• Those who couldn’t recall a time their phone wasn’t within reach or in the same room:  1 in 4
• Facebook users who access the service via a mobile device:  73.4%
• Amount of YouTube’s global watch time that is on mobile devices:  almost 40%
• Projected number of wearable devices in 2016:  between 39-171 million
• How much of the wearable technology market is in the healthcare and medical sector in 2012:  35.1%
• How many devices in the wearable tech market are fitness or activity trackers:  61%
• The forecasted value of the wearable technology market in 2018:  $5.8 billion
• How many American consumers surveyed are aware of smart glasses:  29%

Access

• How much of the developed world has mobile broadband subscriptions in 2013:  3/4
• How much of the developing [under developed] world has broadband subscription in 2013:  1/5
• Percent of U.S. adults that had a laptop in 2012:  57%
• American adults with a high-speed broadband connection at home as of May 2013:  7 out of 10
• Percent of U.S. adults with college education (or more) that use the internet in 2011:  94%
• Those with no high school diploma that used the internet in 2011:  43%
• Percent of white American households that used the internet in 2013:  67%
• Black American households that used the internet in 2013:  57%
• States with lowest internet use rates in 2013:  Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas
• How many American households have only wireless telephones as of the second half of 2012:  nearly two in five

Check out the complete version of  “The GovLab Index: The Networked Public — January 2014”.  It also contains links to the many sources they used to collect the data for the report.