Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Jul 23, 2025

60-70% of world’s attention focused on just 10 online domains, according to latest research

60-70% of world’s attention focused on just 10 online domains, according to latest research

Alarming new research into the online economy has found that just 10 domains command the majority of the world’s attention and are on course to grab even more in the coming years.
The multi-year research project was conducted by Paul X. McCarthy, adjunct professor at UNSW, and Marian-Andrei Rizoiu, lecturer in computer science at the University of Technology Sydney.

The researchers examined global trends in online diversity and dominance, focusing on linkage patterns from several of the world’s most popular social networks such as Reddit and Twitter. In total, they investigated 5.6TB of data spanning a decade of global online activity.

When looking at long-term trends in how businesses compete online, they discovered a “dramatic consolidation” in the digital world: a shrinking number of companies that wield a disproportionate amount of influence on the world’s attention.

In 2020, the “.com” domain surpassed 150 million sites, and even as the offerings from online businesses expand, to include ever more features, functions and applications, the number of companies ultimately responsible for these offerings is shrinking.

The researchers examined six billion user comments from Reddit dating back to 2006, and the over one billion links to websites and online services contained therein.

They parsed the data set and gave each link a uniqueness score, where ‘1’ leads to its own domain, while ‘0’ links to a common and recurring domain such as YouTube.

Ten years ago, at the beginning of the study’s timeframe, there were some 20 different domains for every 100 randomized links examined. That number has since shrunk to just five domains per 100 links shared.

The researchers concluded that between 60% and 70% of all attention on major social media platforms focuses on just 10 domains.

They also studied the connection between 20 billion links shared over the course of three years and found that the top 1,000 global websites continually grow in authority, visibility and influence while all others dwindle in these same regards.

Even as functionality increases, the actual diversity of sources providing these functions appears to be shrinking rapidly.

The researchers also highlight what they dub the “infant mortality” of websites.

Almost 40% of new domains registered in 2006 survived their first five years. However, by contrast, just 3% of those created in 2015 have survived to the present day.

The researchers’ findings underscore a startling reality: it’s not just online businesses that are affected by the loss of online diversity, but the entire online economy.

For example, the competitive advantage traditionally afforded by a company’s physical real-world location no longer applies like it once did.

While businesses can establish themselves anywhere with a stable internet connection, their ability to scale in the face of emerging monopolies for any significant length of time and stand on their own two feet is increasingly under threat, especially with a lack of resources to relocate and find more favorable tax locations, as many of the world’s tech giants can.

The likelihood that an emerging successful online business, regardless of niche or customer base, will be subsumed by one of the few domains which dominate the online world seems to increase over time at an ever accelerating rate.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
×