Question from Delaney: I was just wondering how many websites there are on the Internet today? I know it has to be an astronomical number.
Rick’s answer: You’re right, Delaney. It is an astronomical number.
In fact, the researchers at Internet Live Stats estimate that there are nearly 2 billion of them.
Of course not all of those websites are currently active. Truth be told, a large percentage of the web’s currently existing websites will never receive another visitor.
But still, 2 billion is a LOT of websites, and there are almost that many in existence today.
And as you can see by the way the counter on the Internet Live Stats page keeps increasing, there are new websites being created every second of every day.
Now that you know (approximately) how many websites are on the Internet right now, do you really know what the Internet itself actually is?
Watch the short video below for the scoop on what the Internet is and how it came into being (as explained by Vint Cerf, one of the guys who actually helped create it).
Note: You can watch this video at full screen by clicking the little “square” icon in the lower-right corner of the video after it begins playing.