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Marketing in the internet – as seen from Italy


No. 65 – August 25, 2002


 
Other articles on similar subjects
are published in English
in the monthly Offline column
 

 

loghino.gif (1071 byte) 1. Editorial: The spam disease


“Spamming” isn’t a new problem. It was identified (and nicknamed) twenty years ago. But it’s getting worse. While in the “traditional” internet culture practically everyone agreed in condemning it, now some people seem to think that it’s a good idea – especially as a tool for business. It isn’t. And it isn’t doing any good for business online.

Some large companies now are quite concerned, if only for the floods of spam that are interfering with their e-mail, cluttering and confusing their organization. But they don’t seem to understand why that is only a part of a much bigger problem.

There have been several attempts to stop spamming, or at least reduce it, but so far they have failed. Some authorities (including the European Union) have acknowledged the problem, but with no practical results. And top-down rulings are likely to do more harm than good. They could interfere with net freedom, create unnecessary and cumbersome bureaucracy, while leaving the spam problem unsolved.

The disease has been made worse by a bunch of viruses (replicating worms such as “kletz”) that produce huge quantities of fake e-mail. And nothing has been done to stop that infection.

It is possible to solve, or at least reduce, the spam problem – though it isn’t easy. This is, above all, a cultural issue. People online should be more widely, and more clearly, aware of the problem. And companies should understand why spam is not a good business tool. It’s used predominantly by crooks, swindlers and peddlers of services that nobody wants or needs.

It’s a very bad idea for any company (or person) to be confused with spammers. Especially for anyone who needs and wants to build relationships of trust and integrity.

Swindlers, of course, include list peddlers. They promise to offer “selective” lists of people who want to, or have agreed to, receive mail on specific subjects – while that is blatantly untrue. Anyone falling into their trap is either dishonest or stupid.

On the other hand, it’s a bit too easy to avoid the issue by saying (as some spam advocates do) that if people are stupid enough to be deceived that’s their problem. I know intelligent people, with years of experience online, who have fallen into all sorts of traps, including chain letters, fake humanitarian causes and hoaxes. (Not all spam is “commercial”.)

Of course the definition of spam is, to some extent, subjective. What one person sees as acceptable or “tolerable” can be unbearable for another (or vice versa.) This is one of the reasons why generic and centralized solutions don’t work (except, maybe, for the most frequent and obviously dishonest spammers who could be quite easily put out of business if private and public organizations were taking the problem seriously.)

The first step is to develop a more widespread understanding of the problem. And to provide people with the tools (technical and cultural) to protect themselves according to their personal criteria. Some tools do exist, but they could (and should) be made much more effective.

Business culture should also become much more aware of the increasing damage caused by spam. It doesn’t just clutter personal and company mailboxes. It destroys belief, trust and confidence in online activities – especially business. It isn’t a “lethal” disease, but it’s a serious infection and we are already very late in treating it effectively.


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loghino.gif (1071 byte) 2. New worldwide data


In the last two years the data updates are no longer in this newsletter but in the data section of this site, where there are now four reports in English.

The internet worldwide  http://gandalf.it/data/data1.htm
The internet in Europe  http://gandalf.it/data/data2.htm
Two large language communities  http://gandalf.it/data/spanchin.htm
People online in Italy  http://gandalf.it/data/data3.htm

Three other reports are only in Italian, but charts and graphs are easily understood in any language.

Summaries of the most relevant data are included here to provide a quick update and also to save “historical” reference. In the data section old reports are lost with each update, while they remain available here. There are data reports in issues   8   15   24   31   38   43   50   56   61   62

The worldwide survey that was published on August 14, 2002 reports a further hostcount increase in several countries. Some of the data are questionable. For instance it’s hard to believe that Italy has overtaken Germany and the UK and is now the fourth largest country in the world (and the largest in Europe) by internet hostcount. All statistics have problems and uncertainties. Hostcount trends are fairly consistent and relevant over time, but this particular change can not be taken as a “fact” until further data become availanble.

Chart and graphs (here and in the data section) are based on statistics “as they are” but we should consider that at this stage the figures for the UK are probably understated and those for Italy may be overestimated.

Growth of the internet worldwide appears to be slower than in past years, though still quite strong. This is the evolution from 1995 to 2002.

  Number
of hosts
Yearly
growth
1995 8,200,000 + 107 %
1996 16,729,000 + 104 %
1997 26,053,000 + 56 %
1998 36,739,000 + 41 %
1999 56,218,000 + 53 %
2000 93,047,000 + 66 %
2001 125,888,000 + 35 %
2002 162,128,000 + 29 %

The next chart analyzes data for the 22 countries worldwide with over 500,000 internet hosts.

  Number of hosts
June 2002
% growth
in a year
% of
  total  
Per 1000
inhabitants
United States 105,546,383 + 29.6 65.1 379.1
Japan 8,713,920 + 78.3 5.4 68.8
Canada 3,129,884 + 16.5 1.9 100.6
Italy 2,958,899 + 46.8 1.8 51.6
Germany 2,923,327 + 21.9 1.8 35.5
Netherlands 2,632,803 +   2.0 1.6 166.6
United Kingdom 2,508,172 +   6.7 1.6 42.7
Australia 2,496,683 + 33.8 1.5 132.1
France 2,052,770 + 46.1 1.3 34.7
Brazil 1,988,321 + 94.0 1,2 11.7
Taiwan 1,814,090 + 41.7 1.1 82.8
Spain 1,682,434 + 82.6 1.0 42.5
Finland 1,217,983 + 39.6 0.8 234.2
Sweden 1,187,942 + 14.4 0.7 133.5
Mexico 1,004,637 + 48.9 0.6 10.2
Denmark 872,328 + 61.9 0.5 164.6
Belgium 832,853 + 35.7 0.5 81.7
Russia 800,277 + 118.7 0.5 5.5
Poland 731,371 + 39.3 0.5 18.9
Austria 720,587 + 19.9 0.4 87.9
Switzerland 667,509 + 28.8 0.4 90.2
Norway 634,098 +   7.4 0.4 140.9
Total 162,128,493 + 28.8   9,3


This graph shows the situation in June 2002 for the 12 countries with over 1.5 million internet hosts.


Internet hosts in 12 countries
countries worldwide with over 1.5 million hosts

graph


If we exclude the US, this is the picture for the other 21 countries with over 500,000 internet hosts.


Internet hosts in 21 countries
countries worldwide with over 500,000 hosts   (United States excluded)

graph

Growth speeds are very different, as we see in this chart conparing 10 of the 12 countries with over 1.5 million internet hosts (US and Japan excluded for better readability of the graph.)

Internet hosts
numbers in thousands

graph
The red part of bars shows growth in two years (2000 to 2002)


The differences are even more obvious in the next graph, where development stages are shown as percent of the total.

Internet hosts
Percentages

graph


The next graph shows density (hosts per 1000 inhabitants) in 25 countries with over 400,000 internet hosts.


Internet hosts per 1000 inhabitants in 25 countries

graph

As usual, here is the worldwide density picture as a map.


Internet hosts per 1000 inhabitants

world map


This is the situation in relation to income for the 25 countries with over 400,000 internet hosts.

Internet hosts in relation to income (GDP)
in 25 countries

graph

More detailed charts, graphs and comments are in the worldwide data report.

Another analysis on this site shows the growing online activity in two language communities (Spanish and Chinese.) In that context there is an approximate estimate of the nine most relevant lanuages in the internet.


Languages in the internet

graph

English is obviously domiunant, but other languages are relevant. Especially those spoken in several countries, such as German and French, with a high growth potential for Spanish and Chinese.


A full update will probably be available in the first quarter of 2003.

 

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loghino.gif (1071 byte) 3. New European data


A more detailed analysis is in the European data section. For “historical ” reference see issues   8   13   24   29   30   36   43   50   56   60   62

There are 24 million internet hosts in Europe. With this growth pattern from 1990 to 2002.


1990 –        29,200
1991 –      129,700
1992 –      284,400
1993 –      553,400
1994 –   1,029,300
1995 –   2,206,400
1996 –   3,674,300
1997 –   5,790,000
1998 –   7,872,000
1999 – 10,268,000
2000 – 15,804,000
2001 – 22,332,000
2002 – 24,237,000 (half year)


This is the situation in mid-year 2002 for the 21 European countries with over 100,000 internet hosts.


  Number of hosts
June 2002
% of
Europe
Per 1000
inhabitants
Italy 2,958,899 12.2 51.6
Germany 2,923,327 12.1 32.6
Netherlands 2,632,803 10.9 166.6
United Kingdom 2,508,172 10.4 42.7
France 2,052,770 8.5 34.7
Spain 1,682,434 7.0 42.5
Finland 1,217,983 5.0 234.2
Sweden 1,187,942 4.9 133.5
Demark 872,328 3.6 164.6
Belgium 832,853 3.5 81.7
Russia 800,277 3.3 5.5
Poland 731,371 3.0 18.9
Austria 720,587 3.0 87.9
Switzerland 667,509 2.8 90.2
Noway 634,098 2.6 140.9
Czech Republic 362,083 1.5 36.2
Portugal 266,991 1.1 27.0
Hungary 228,303 0.9 22.8
Greece 184,716 0.8 17.4
Ukraine 130,569 0.6 2.6
Ireland 130,487 0.6 35.3
European Union 20,136,164 83.1 53.9
Europe 24,236,913   34.5


As pointed out in the comments on worldwide data, it’s unlikely that Italy can really have the largest hostcount in Europe. I’s probably in third place, after Germany and the UK – but even so it’s a big change compared three or four years ago.

Here again, graphs are based on data “as they are” but we should bear in mind that at this stage the figures for the UK are probably understated and those for Italy may be overestimated. In spite of that problem, trends over time remain consistent and meaningful and comparisons between countries are quite relevant.

This graph summarizes the picture for the 15 European countries with over 500,000 internet hosts.


15 European countries

graph

There are considerable differences in growth speed, as we see in this graph.


Internet hosts in 15 European countries
numbers in thousands

graph
The red part of bars shows growth in two years (2000 to 2002)


This is the density (hosts per 1000 inhabitants) in the European countries with over 100,000 internet hosts.


Internet hosts per 1000 inhabitants
in 21 European countries

grafico

As usual, here is the densitúy picrure as a map.


Internet hosts per 1000 inhabitants

graph


This is the situation in relation to income in the European countries with over 100,000 internet hosts.


Host internet in relation to income (GDP)
in 21 European countries

graph

For more details, and comments, see the European data report.

New European statistics are available every month, but short-term changes often aren’t relevant. There will not be other updates here this year unless there are major developments worth reporting.

 

 

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