Having 16% (1.04 billion online 2005 - source: InternetWorldStats) of the worlds population connected instantaneously through the internet, has revolutionized people’s interaction globally and has created unprecedented business opportunities--the possibilities of which are just beginning to be utilized.
Three categories of Web based services are driving this trend. 1) People empowered, self-created content services such as Wikipedia, You Tube, MySpace, Blogs, Podcasts, Flickr, del.icio.us, Craigslist, etc; 2) Instant Communication resources such as E-mail, VoIP services such as Skype, and Instant Messaging tools such as MSN Messenger, Yahoo IM, etc.; and 3) Social networking phenomenon such as Friendster, Orkut, Facebook and many such niche networks of millions of people.
Many of these services are being referred to as second-generation Internet-based services more popularly tagged as Web 2.0. These services let people collaborate and share information online in previously unavailable ways.
These networks will further benefit from the increased accessibility of internet enabled mobile devices.
With the growing internet usage in Muslim majority countries (currently estimated at 75 million users), the door is wide open to serve this particular segment as well as for creating services that target users worldwide. Using the initial success of online social networks as examples, the big winners will be those who can figure out how to tap into the millions online to develop new products, provide new services, and improve their own business processes.
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