With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the world experienced an unprecedented transformation. We all know that the pandemic compelled people to shift to digital channels for almost all regular activities, be it working, shopping, education, entertainment or socializing. Several statements have been made in varied circles about “data explosion”, but we don’t have much idea about the dimensions of this data explosion.
Studying the data that is generated on the internet over the duration of just 1 minute can give us a glimpse of the volume of data the world is generating currently. Data gathered by Visual Capitalist makes for a mindboggling story.
As depicted in the chart below, 1 minute on the internet holds over 400,000 hours of video streamed via Netflix, 41.7 million messages shared through WhatsApp, and 500 hours of video uploaded on Youtube. In the same minute about 6,500 packages are shipped by the retail giant Amazon and over 208,333 people are connected through live Zoom meetings.
Image Source: Statista
The year 2020 has witnessed a mammoth rise in digital activities and the chart above just tells a partial story of one internet minute. As of April 2020, 59% of the global population has gained access to the internet, that depicts a 6% rise from January 2019. This data explosion is the result of over 4.5 billion people using the internet and the number is progressively rising every day. Here’s taking a look at few current digital hotspots.
Cash Transfers
People all over the world are now using online channels for making payments. According to Visual Capitalist, transactions worth $240,000 take place on PayPal’s Venmo in US. The trend holds true for most countries globally. Fintech companies are doing exceedingly well, and banks are speedily upgrading their digital payment portals and services to catch up.
E-Commerce
E-commerce industry was on a steady growth trajectory even before Covid-19. But the pandemic gave further boost to the industry resulting in people shifting channels in a matter of weeks. Currently data suggests that $1 million is spent every minute on online purchases. Since people have become comfortable shopping online, the trend is expected to continue in the long run.
Collaboration tools
After the pandemic, remote working population in US grew from 15% to more than 50%. People are thus predominantly dependent on tools offered by Zoom and Microsoft Teams to stay connected and work in perfect sync. With the future of work undergoing massive transformation, the trend is expected to continue.
Social Media
In person socialization has now become a thing of the past and so people are almost completely dependent of social media for socialization. In every single minute Facebook users share 150,000 messages, TikTok is installed 2,704 times, and Instagram users post 347,222 stories.
Online streaming and gaming
Entertainment has predominantly shifted to online channels as people are unwilling to visit theatres or partake in any offline event. Most streaming portals have seen phenomenal rise in userbase and subscription post pandemic. Online gaming has also garnered a larger following as people now have more free time in hand.
Businesses need to harness the power of data to succeed
It is clearly evident that the world has changed sharply after the Covid-19 pandemic and since the shift involves data generation, everything has become tangible and measurable. Businesses need to tap into this data mine and take data-driven decisions to multiply their customer base and serve them better for faster growth and sustainable success.
