Things change so fast! It is the 25th anniversary of Listserv, the email management software created by Eric Thomas back in 1986, we can see just how far we’ve come from our meager beginnings with email and our ability to communicate on the internet.

Check out some of these great statistics provided by Fast Company in this sharp Infographiccreated by Rachel Z. Arndt and illustrated by Liz Meyer.

• In 1989 there were 1.8 million email accounts worldwide.In 2010 that number jumped to 3 billion.
• In 2010 email used by Seniors is up 28% while email used by teens is down 59% (Thanks to texting) The average businessperson sends 33 emails each day.
• In 1985, 90% of all emails were business related. Today just 8% are business related.
• 89% of all sent emails are spam, the majority of which are pharmaceutical promotions.
• In 2010 there were 107 Trillion emails sent, verses 170 billion pieces of mail sent.
• Also in 2010, 36 billion photos were shared on Facebook and 25 billion tweets were posted.

Just for some perspective, in 2004 there were 1 million Facebook users and by 2010 there were 600 million reconnecting with family and friends on the worlds favorite social network. In contrast Americas first online interactive experience AOL, had 23 million users in 2004, but by 2010 that number dropped to a mere 4 million.

This all kind of contradicts a Newsweek articlewritten by Clifford Stoll in 1995, “The Internet? Bah! hype alert: why cyberspace isn’t, and will never be, Nirvana.”  The naysayers that said the internet will never catch on probably don’t like having that thrown in their faces at cocktail parties.