Just how many people actually work in our industry?

I have been working in the "Internet Industry" since 1999, but try as I might, I could not find a single publication or research paper that truly defines our industry. So, I set out to try to piece it together bit by byte so I could tell my investors just how many people work in this illustrious trade.

Actually, when I started talking about this topic I seem to be faced by lots of quizzical looks, and statements like "aren't we all in the Internet industry?" But I think it is purely a matter of our industry maturing to the point now where it is really possible to consider that you work in a true industry, with developed value and supply chains, varying business models and a co-dependence on a method of transport (for data of course). I guess at one point it would have seemed crazy to think about a car industry or a telecom industry, but these have grown up into the major industries of our day. So I believe it is time for us to revel in the fact we earn and owe our living to the Internet.

My quest started with trying to breakdown the traditional ways of measuring our industry - at the intersection of ICT and Media. What is interesting is that neither of these designations actually present a true picture of the Internet Industry today - and the correct answer (or as correct as I could get) was actually somewhere in between.

So, how many people work in the Internet Industry (Internet professionals as I like to call them). Well, that depends on how you classify things....but for my interest was to try to define the number of people developing and managing websites, or companies wholly dependent on the Internet as their means of business. I found two very good reports from Germany and the UK, that tried to define the breakdown of people working in digital media industry (mostly digital agencies), but both dated from around 2005/2006. Using these reports I was able to derive a total of about 650,000 companies worldwide and around 3 million people directly employed in the design side of the industry....but I know this is only a part of it.

I figure that there are many more smart people out there that know how to build a picture of the industry, and I would welcome some discussion on exactly how to define the industry. Lets say for now 3 million potential users for our product is not a bad start....but it would be great just to know who works in the Internet industry - I DO!!