In case you need a friendly reminder, The Boston Consulting Group just came out with projections for how the Internet is transforming the way we conduct commerce, communicate and, basically, live our daily lives. The latest survey indicates that  by 2016, roughly 45 percent of the world’s population, or three billion people, will be using the Internet.

That’s up from 1.9 billion in 2010.

As more people head online, there’s also money to be made. The G-20 Internet economy is expected to reach $4.2 trillion by 2016, up from $2.3 trillion in 2010.

Yes, that’s trillion with a T.

“No company or country can afford to ignore this development. Every business needs to go digital,” said David Dean, a coauthor of the report and a senior partner at BCG. “The ‘new’ Internet is no longer largely Western, accessed from your PC. It is now global, ubiquitous, and participatory.”

What’s meant by the “new Internet?”

Well, one big change is the rise of mobile. By 2016, the report suggests that mobile devices will account for about 80 percent of all broadband connections in the G-20 nations. The other big trend is social media, with the report indicating that 90 percent of users are engaged in some form of social media. (Facebook alone counts more than 800 million users).

[Hat tip VentureBeat]

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