IMPACT OF THE WORLD WIDE WEB

To describe the impact the World Wide Web has had upon the world, even in a brief
form, requires that we first describe what the World Wide Web actually achieves.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica tells us: The Web gives users access to a vast array
of documents that are connected to each other by means of hypertext
(Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2014)[1]
The World Wide Web is a means of sharing information. A user may upload their
document, or page, into an internet server and allow anyone they wish access to it
across the internet.
A deceptively simple idea and perhaps not even sounding that impressive, not in
isolation. However, perhaps one of the greatest facets of humanity is our ability to
learn and more than that, share it with the others. While there may well be genius
horses or monkeys. Their ability to distribute and share whatever knowledge their
higher intelligence allows them to grasp is rather awfully limited.
Humans by contrast have been storing and sharing knowledge since ancient times.
The Library of Alexandria perhaps one of the more famous of these but there existed
such places before its destruction and leading up to the modern day universities,
religious centres and libraries have fulfilled this purpose. Never before has so much
knowledge been so easily accessed by so many. While previously texts and ideas
may have had to physically travel distances measured in the hundreds and even
thousands of miles. A journey that could well take months. Now that knowledge can
be accessed in mere moments, hours perhaps at worst.
It hardly ends there though. Not simply a matter of distance, impossibly important
though that is. Its also a matter of speed. News and information can be supplied in
moments. An unfortunate side of this is that not all information is valid, that lies and
misunderstandings can be distributed as easily as more accurate information with
unpleasant consequences. Bullying, religious extremism and vile practices can now
make their into anyones home and while there is of course a large amount of choice
regarding what information a person has presented to them even those can only go
so far.

For good or ill, this is a fundamental change in the human situation and one which
appears to be if anything only deepening in its scope and breadth as time goes by.
This isnt merely due to more people than ever before being able to connect, though
that is one large part of it, its also due to how its penetrating further and deeper into
the lives of the younger members of society. A poll 88% of those born within the 80s
to 00s, so called millennials, have a face book account. 51% of that same
demographic used it recently. As opposed to numbers of 70% and 40% of those
born from 1946-1970 (Bennet, 2014)[2].
Figure 1

Not perhaps the greatest difference but

its a trend that continues through
YouTube, google, twitter and
Instagram simply growing with each
site as shown by fig 1. The older the
member of the public asked, the less
use they make of such social media.
What makes this such an interesting
trend is that being age based as these
figures are, overtime the World Wide
Web and the sites that make it up will
penetrate ever deeper into society as
those who dont use it, or are simply
entirely unfamiliar with it expire.
So then, the question is what impact
has all this had?
A difficult question to truly answer as theres no method by which to find out what
would have happened if it didnt exist and all other advances somehow still took
place. As thats simply impossible though the best we can manage is to look at
current trends and give estimates taking into account what the state of the world was
like before the World Wide Web.
One of the easiest ways of doing this is perhaps the economy. Humans have been
exchanging goods and currency for thousands of years and the impact of the Web

can be somewhat estimated using changes within the economy. Of these perhaps
the best and easiest is Business to consumer or B2C.
Figure 2

EMarketer tells us that at the beginning

of 2014 global business to consumer
ecommerce sales were expected to
reach $1.505 trillion by the end of that
same year. An increase of 20.2% over
the

previous

as

shown

in

fig

(eMarketer, 2014)[3]. A continuation of the

trend seen in both 2013 and 2012, that
being an increase in the size of and
monetary value of business to consumer
sales.
However this is not however all good news. While B2C Ecommerce sales have
Figure 3

consistently grown another sector of the

economy has started to falter rather harshly. In
2013 the U.K.s B2C sector reached $141.53
billion up from $124.76 billion in 2012 as shown
in fig 3 (eMarketer, 2013)[4]. This while a good
sign for those investing in World Wide Web
sales, seems to have had a rather disruptive
effect upon the British high street. 1800 shops
having closed in 2012, a 10-fold increase over
the previous year (BBC, 2013)[5]. With a
corresponding loss of employees and their
ability to purchase. Which while it cant be

absolutely linked to the rising profits of B2C ecommerce, cant help but be at least
somewhat related.
This is then two impacts the Web has had. One good and one ill but it doesnt end
there, this is but two areas. One of which is obviously linked to the web and the other
of which can be largely expected to be linked to the former. While not all purchases
made by online methods would have been done in a store a large amount of them

would have been. This of course doesnt account for sites such as E-bay and purely
online retailers like Amazon that simply could not exist at all without the World Wide
Web.
Societal impacts are harder to really measure. Theres no simple list of numbers that
can be looked at and then referenced in order to estimate the point. At least not so
much as impact goes. What can be measured is the number of people connected to
the internet and through that the World Wide Web.
In 2014 the number of internet users passed 3 Billion and has continued to increase
since then (Internet live stats, 2014)[6]. The current population of the planet itself is
over 7 billion (Worldometers, 2014)[7] even then though, that means that more than
40% of the planet has the ability to communicate with one another with both speed
and ease.
Simply by having an active internet connection it can be easier for someone in
England to share information such as the chemical makeup of water is H2O with
someone in Japan or Australia, than it is with someone in their own country. Be they
at home or in more public areas.
If that is a good or bad thing remains problematic to truly measure however. Perhaps
one thing to look at is reactions to so much social interaction taking place. One of the
easier to look at is bullying. Abuse within schools is a fact within schools. However
much governments and other authorities try and stamp them out. For no real fault of
their own, certain people are ostracised and while previously those suffering from
such could find an escape outside of school hours that is no longer as true as it once
was.
So called Cyberbullying is one determental facet of this ability to now communicate
more and easier with our peers at near all times of the day. As social existence
becomes ever more linked into web sites of various types the sufferers of abuse are
losing their ability to avoid their tormentors. While before being at home would offer
sanctuary. The connectivity of the modern first world society means this is no longer
true with unpleasant effects. The problem in fact reaching levels where advice has
had to be given out with regards to dealing with it. In the UK for instance in Dec 2012
the Crown Prosecution Service in the U.K. gave out a set of guidelines on how to

prosecute cases involving communications over social media (Crown Prosecution

Service, 2012)[8].
What then can we consider the impact of the World Wide Web? Perhaps the one
impact that can be said without fear of rebuttal is that there is now more information
available to those connected to it. They can interact with people, ideas and even
cultures thousands of miles away in ways which would have previously been entirely
impossible. What Impact that has had however cannot truly be measured. Not in any
absolute sense and surely not with any form of empirical measurements. The World
Wide Web doesnt exist in a vacuum. With regards to B2C sales using web sites.
Would those purchases still have been made without online services what would the
state of British high streets be? Both questions for which there can simply be no
answers as we have no ability to see an alternative existence.. Cyberbullying simply
couldnt exist without the greater connectivity at all hours of the day that the World
Wide Web affords us but bullying itself is an age old human practice.

References
1.

Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2014). World Wide Web (WWW). Available:

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/649051/World-Wide-Web-WWW. Last
accessed 17th November 2014.
2.

Bennet, S. (2014). How many Millennials, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers use

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram [Study]. Available: Bennet, S. (2014). How many
Millennials, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram [Study].
Available: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/millennials-gen-x-baby-boomerssocial-media_b57626. Last accessed 29/11/2014.
3.

eMarketer. (2014). Global B2C Ecommerce Sales to Hit $1.5 Trillion This Year

Driven by Growth in Emerging Markets Available:

http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Global-B2C-Ecommerce-Sales-Hit-15-Trillion-ThisYear-Driven-by-Growth-Emerging-Markets/1010575. Last accessed 19th Nov 2014.
4.

eMarketer. (2013). Ecommerce Sales Topped $1 Trillion for First Time in 2012 -

See more at: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Ecommerce-Sales-Topped-1-TrillionFirst-Time-2012. Available: . Last accessed 19th Nov 2014.
5.

BBC. (2013). High Street chain store closures soar, says research.Available:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21611772. Last accessed 19th Nov 2014.

6.

Internet Live Stats. (2014). Internet Users. Available:

http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/#trend. Last accessed 19th Nov 2014.

7.

worldometers. (2014). Current World Population. Available:

http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/. Last accessed 29th Nov 2014.

8.

Interim guidelines on prosecuting cases involving communications sent via social

media. (2012). 1st ed. [ebook] London: Strategy and Policy Directorate. Available at:
http://www.cps.gov.uk/consultations/social_media_consultation.pdf Last accessed 26
Nov. 2014.