the lowest and flattest of these curves is that of population growth at a world mean of about 1.8 percent per annum ... . the second curve represents the mean growth rate (7.5 percent) of gross national products in the developed nations of the world and of telephones in the united states.

there are two other growth trends that are distinctly steeper that the normal and sober 7.5 percent. the first of these is the expansion of long-distance communications, in particular transatlantic traffic, at a rate of 15 percent per year, or a quadrupling every 10 years. the steepest curve, which represents the computation and data-automation field, is in the phenomenal or "boy wonder" class and represents a growth rate of the order of 15 to 25 percent per year, or a tenfold increase every 10 years. this is our cybernetic revolution. | j.w. halina, data transmission - current trends and future prospects, 1963

once i was told that over 160 definition exist for relevance. tefko saracevic has more to tell about it. and he knows the history of that notion in information retrival:

• What are the manifestationsof relevance? • What is the behaviorof relevance? Or more precisely: How do people behave in respect to relevance? • What are the effects of relevance? Or more precisely: What influencesare related to relevance? | Part II: Nature and Manifestations of Relevance*

social networks, cloud computing, multimedia services or search - igual - one has to keep in mind its all about infrastructure. the important questions, according to francois bourdoncle, exalead, for this services are: can i scale? what does the solution cost me? cost of revenue?

bourdoncle further argues that cost of revenues is google's largest asset, together with its brand | ict, 26. november 2008, lyon.

facebook • 13,000 machines in their datacenter • 50,000 machines next year • $1M/month for electricity • $500k/month for network bandwidth • 2TB/day of data (mostly photos) • Add one huge storage system every week • $80M/year for their staff (800) • Burning cash quickly ($516M raised to date) | data according to bourdoncle

twitter is/was known for being down, so no wonder they are in need of money