A statistical snapshot of our digital world at the dawn of the social media era
JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.
The video goes quick so I jotted down the numbers below for us to analyze. Here are some interesting facts about the state of the Internet in 2009, which provide a fascinating snapshot of the digital landscape just as social media was beginning to dominate online activity.
Looking at these statistics from today’s perspective offers a remarkable glimpse into how rapidly the internet has evolved. From Facebook’s rise to dominance to the explosion of video content and mobile usage, these numbers capture a pivotal moment in the internet’s history—a time when digital communication was transforming from text-based interactions to the rich multimedia ecosystem we now take for granted.
Global Internet Users: The Digital Divide
As of September 2009, the internet had reached 1.73 billion users worldwide—approximately 25% of the global population at that time. However, these users were not evenly distributed across regions, highlighting significant disparities in digital access:
Asia
738,257,230
42.7% of global users
Europe
418,209,796
24.2% of global users
North America
252,908,000
14.6% of global users
Latin America/Caribbean
179,031,479
10.3% of global users
Africa
67,371,700
3.9% of global users
Oceania/Australia
20,971,700
1.2% of global users
The stark disparity between regions reflects the “digital divide” that characterized the early internet era. While North America had approximately 75% internet penetration in 2009, Africa’s penetration rate was below 7%. This inequality in access would become a major focus for development efforts in the following decade.
Email and Web Content: Volume and Spam
Email remained the dominant form of internet communication in 2009, though it was increasingly plagued by spam. Meanwhile, the web continued its explosive growth in content creation:
Email Statistics
- 90 trillion – Total emails sent in 2009
- 247 billion – Average number of emails per day
- 200 billion – Daily spam emails (81% of all email)
- 1.4 billion – Email users worldwide
Web Content
- 234 million – Websites as of December 2009
- 126 million – Blogs on the internet
The prevalence of spam—81% of all email traffic—highlights how the internet’s open architecture created both tremendous opportunities and significant challenges. The battle against unwanted content would become a defining feature of internet development, from email filtering to content moderation on social platforms.
The Visual Internet: Photos and Video
2009 saw an explosion in visual content online, particularly through photo sharing on Facebook and video consumption through platforms like YouTube:
Photos
2.5 billion photos uploaded each month to Facebook (30 billion annually)
4 billion total photos hosted on Flickr (October 2009)
Video
12.2 billion videos per month served by YouTube in the US
924 million videos per month served by Hulu in the US
182 videos watched per month by the average internet user in the US (82% of users)
The shift toward visual media foreshadowed major changes in internet infrastructure, user behavior, and business models. As photos and videos became central to the online experience, companies would invest heavily in content delivery networks, data centers, and storage technologies to meet the growing demand.
The Dark Side: Security Concerns
As internet usage grew, so did security threats. The 2009 data reveals concerning trends in malware and compromised systems:
- 148,000 new zombie computers created per day
- 2.6 million malicious code threats at the start of 2009 (viruses, trojans, etc.)
The creation of nearly 150,000 zombie computers daily highlighted how the internet’s growth created new vulnerabilities. These compromised computers, forming “botnets,” could be used for distributed denial-of-service attacks, spam distribution, and other malicious activities, presenting significant challenges for cybersecurity professionals.
Reflecting on a Digital Milestone
Looking back at these 2009 statistics provides a fascinating snapshot of the internet at a pivotal moment in its evolution. Facebook was cementing its dominance, YouTube was transforming how we consume video, and the seeds of mobile internet revolution were just beginning to sprout.
Many of the trends visible in these numbers—the shift to visual content, the centralization of online activity around a few major platforms, the persistent challenges of security—would only accelerate in the following years. What’s perhaps most striking is how quickly these numbers became obsolete. Annual statistics became quarterly, then monthly, then daily as the pace of internet growth continued to accelerate.
These figures capture the internet at an inflection point—moving from its adolescence into maturity, transforming from a primarily text-based medium to a rich multimedia experience, and beginning its evolution from a desktop-centric technology to the mobile-first ecosystem we know today.
Join the Conversation
Looking at these 2009 statistics, what surprises you most about how the internet has evolved since then? Which trends from that era have continued, and which ones took unexpected turns? Share your thoughts in the comments!