Today, in the crazy tech driven world that you and I live in, it’s hard to stop and look around everyone once and a while to think about the fact that only 2.7 billion people have internet access. The rate that people are adopting the internet is growing by less than 9% annually.
Can you imagine a life without the internet, a life without the ability to look up the definition to a word or a favorite recipe at the click of a few buttons? I know it sounds stuck up and spoiled, but I sure can’t. We’ve become so adopted a lifestyle full of all sorts of different technology, all of which revolve around the internet. The internet has played a massive part in my education, as I am more than positive that it has shaped a lot of your businesses. Well, thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and others, there is a plan to bring Internet to the whole world: Internet.org.
Internet.org
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is doing what he can to bring internet access to everyone on the planet. He just recently announced the launch of Internet.org, a project with the goals to efficiently use data, make internet access affordable, and help businesses create new business models and services which will help to drive internet access.
The founding members of Internet.org are Facebook, Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm, and Samsung. Some ideas for projects of Internet.org include the development of low-cost, high-quality smartphones that could possibly help to bring internet access to underserved areas. They are also looking at data caching systems, localization of mobile devices, and data compression tools.
Zuckerberg's Thoughts
“There are huge barriers in developing countries to connecting and joining the knowledge economy. Internet.org brings together a global partnership that will work to overcome these challenges, including making internet access available to those who cannot currently afford it,” said Zuckerberg in an official statement. “The unfair economic reality is that those already on Facebook have way more money than the rest of the world combined, so it may not actually be profitable for us to serve the next few billion people for a very long time, if ever. But we believe everyone deserves to be connected,” he writes.
The main page of internet.org states, “Today, the internet isn’t accessible for two thirds of the world. Imagine a world where it connects us all.” I can’t even imagine how different this world would be if every single person on the planet had internet access. Interested in learning more? Check out their website, internet.org and watch this video to find out more.
