Internet monitoring company Netcraft, which has explored the internet since 1995, said there were now 101,435,253 websites online, up from 97.9 million last month.   Nov. 2 - The first website went online in August 1991 and, now 15 years later, the 100-million website mark has been cracked.

 

Internet monitoring company Netcraft, which has explored the internet since 1995, said there were now 101,435,253 websites online, up from 97.9 million last month.

 

"The 100-million site milestone caps an extraordinary year in which the internet has already added 27.4 million sites, easily topping the previous full-year growth record of 17 million from 2005," Netcraft said.

 

The figures are derived from the number of responses to Netcraft's monthly survey, it said.

 

In the first Netcraft survey, conducted in August 1995, 18,957 sites were found.

 

There were just 18,000 Web sites when Netcraft, based in Bath, England, began keeping track in August of 1995. It took until May of 2004 to reach the 50 million milestone; then only 30 more months to hit 100 million, late in the month of October 2006.

 

In both the business world and the social scene, a website is now an identifier almost as common as a phone number or an e-mail address.

 

Whether it is sharing photographs on Flickr.com, showing off an amateur video on YouTube, or looking for a mate on Match.com, websites have also become a way to bond and belong.