Being in the "software" business I'm interested in how people use software, including accessing it via the internet. Over the last couple of decades we've seen a massive growth in the number of people who use the internet for various commercially oriented things, shopping, booking travel, ordering services, getting help etc. but probably the most pervasive and more impactful trend is the number of people that use internet based applications to pursue personal interests (or hobbies), for example, communicate with friends, write blogs (like this one!), publish photographs etc. It's all part of a trend of enablement, i.e. these applications enable people to do things they otherwise wouldn't have the competence to do and would have previously relied on the help of an "expert", for example create, edit and publish a short video or digitally enhance a photograph, or even design a new kitchen. This is a trend that has not only seen more and more people using software to achieve such things, but is one that is increasing in both number a velocity, the following number show how long various well known internet applications took to reach one million subscribers or users,
Netflix - 3.5 years
Twitter- 2 years
Facebook - 10 months
Spotify - 5 months
Instagram - 3 months
ChatGPT - 5 days
It would appear that the hype-cycle for internet applications is such that pretty soon it'll be measured in hours rather than years, I'm not sure what such a change will do to us but I can certainly predict that application creators had better make sure that their products are easy to find and use or they won't stand a chance!
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