Based on that graph's numbers (dated 2008) combined with each country's 2009 population census (a percentile or two off, I know...): Nigeria: 15% United Kingdom: 75% Egypt: 17% South Africa: 8% Sweden: 85%
But look at the rate of growth...
Nigerian Internet use increasing
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Re: Nigerian Internet use increasing
#12Is it really fair to say that people in China have access to the Internet? Maybe it's better to say that they have access to some AOL-ized version of the Internet, not the actual Internet itself. The difference between an open Internet and a closed one is not just a small difference of degree; they are entirely different things.
There are about 20 or 30 websites blocked in china. Not that many.
Re: Nigerian Internet use increasing
#13Based on that graph's numbers (dated 2008) combined with each country's 2009 population census (a percentile or two off, I know...): Nigeria: 15% United Kingdom: 75% Egypt: 17% South Africa: 8% Sweden: 85%
But look at the rate of growth...
Yes it's impressive, if time stood still and politics never changed, but that's not how the world works :) Everyone knows from the lesson of "retrospectivity" that growth can be just a temporary rise, or just the spike before a decline etc.
If we look at the UK's numbers in that same graph, after having travelled back to 2002 in our time machine, we could also say "but look at the rate of growth the past 4 years!", but looking back at the graph today, with "8 years later" of extra data...
My underlying point was that no mistake in graphs and statistics is as common as the repeated mistake of us trying to predict the future from contemporary numbers, and always ending up being wrong a few years later down the road. Statistics need lots of time to mature and settle.
Re: Nigerian Internet use increasing
#14Perhaps even more relative: internet penetration of the 16 largest countries by population:
Re: Nigerian Internet use increasing
#15The first thing that came to mind when I saw the graph was, "Geez, there's a quite a rise in scammers in Nigeria."
Re: Nigerian Internet use increasing
#16Is it really fair to say that people in China have access to the Internet? Maybe it's better to say that they have access to some AOL-ized version of the Internet, not the actual Internet itself. The difference between an open Internet and a closed one is not just a small difference of degree; they are entirely different things.
There are about 20 or 30 websites blocked in china. Not that many.
websites aren't all equal. The top 20-30 websites in the world account for something like 90% of total internet usage.
Re: Nigerian Internet use increasing
#17The first thing that came to mind when I saw the graph was, "Geez, there's a quite a rise in scammers in Nigeria."
25 million pretty normal people would not find your statement very nice. The U.S sends a lot of Viagra spam - but that does not mean that all the internet users are sending viagra spam.
Spam reaches a lot of people, because that's its intent. Extrapolating from spam is silly.
Re: Nigerian Internet use increasing
#18The first thing I thought when reading the title ("Graphs don't lie :) ) was: "There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damn lies and statistics." Presumably, graphs fall under "statistics".
Oh, I thought they fell under "damn lies". My bad.
Re: Nigerian Internet use increasing
#19Is it really fair to say that people in China have access to the Internet? Maybe it's better to say that they have access to some AOL-ized version of the Internet, not the actual Internet itself. The difference between an open Internet and a closed one is not just a small difference of degree; they are entirely different things.
There are about 20 or 30 websites blocked in china. Not that many.
The Golden Shield project employs thousands of people. They do a lot more blocking than "20 or 30 websites".
Re: Nigerian Internet use increasing
#20Is it really fair to say that people in China have access to the Internet? Maybe it's better to say that they have access to some AOL-ized version of the Internet, not the actual Internet itself. The difference between an open Internet and a closed one is not just a small difference of degree; they are entirely different things.
There are about 20 or 30 websites blocked in china. Not that many.
really? only 20 or 30?
Hmm, I think there are more than 20 or 30 western newspapers and they probably are if not blocked then heavily censored.