Hyperconnectivity

Abstract
Is hyperconnectivity just a new way of marketing and selling goods via internet? Or is
a way to provide knowledge, connect people faster and more efficient than in past? Are there
any dangers of hyperconnectivity in a way that we are used just for marketing purpose? Does
hyperconnectivity affects normal human behaviour in a way that we spending more and more
time in front our computers, Smartphone and tablets instead normal socialization? In the last
5 years we are witnessing rapid growth of hyperconnectivity witch affect us all in our daily
life. Two researches have been conducted in order to bring light to this question. First one is
about how hyperconnectivity is changing the landscape of social and professional
organizations, while other one is about how the growing interconnectedness of society is
changing the landscape for business. There is much to learn about hyperconnectivity and its
effects, its still a new thing to society.
Introduction
Hyperconnectivity is a term invented by Canadian social scientists Anabel QuanHaase and Barry Wellman, arising from their studies of person-to-person and person-tomachine communication in networked organizations and networked societies. The term refers
to the use of multiple means of communication, such as email, instant messaging, telephone,
face-to-face contact and Web 2.0 information services. The artificial term hyperconnection
alludes to the term hypertext and was developed during the 1990s, while the associated
concept of the internet and more recently Web 2.0 (Quan-Haase & Wellman, 2006; Anabel et
al, 2008; Chu & Xu, 2009; Cavoukian et al., 2010) represents a connection, which is supposed
to express a wide inner connectivity of entities. With growth of Internet and its possibilities
in terms of downloading speed, improved availability and cheaper prices of internet services,
as well as improved technical appliances for internet usage, and its cheaper prices due to mass
production on a worldwide basis, led to a worldwide, so called `hyperconnected` market
which included peoples, goods, ideas and technologies. Due to this situation there is higher
demand and higher customer expectation on all internet based businesses such as on-line
shops, `Apps`, cloud-computing based business etc. In a hyperconnected world every
message, every purchase, web click, mobile-phone location, credit card transaction is captured
and stored at a granular level in databases throughout the world. Computers have moved from
the climate-controlled environments of enterprises to devices in our pockets. Video has moved
to the same devices from our living rooms. Social media have trumped traditional media.

Methodology

Researches have been conducted to show how hyperconnectivity is changing the

landscape of social and professional organizations as well as how the growing
interconnectedness of society is changing the landscape for business. Some advantages of
hyperconnectivity are that is always on, allowing users to stay connected to family members,
work, friends etc. 24/7. Its readily accessible meaning that there is universe of mobile and
personal devices, connections are widely available anywhere due to Wi-Fi and mobile
broadband internet. Its information rich, there is numerous search engines, websites, social
media and 24-hour news broadcasting. Its interactive, ensures that peoples can offer their
though on anything. Hyperconnectivity includes not just people to people communication,
also people to machine, in a way of speaking bots (Siri etc.) and machine to machine
communication. Its always recording, cloud services, website cookies, password savings etc.
Disadvantages of hyperconnectivity are that informations and accessibility of the same
present risk of misuse. Research on topic how hyperconnectivity is changing the landscape of
social and professional organizations showed us changes in variety of institutions and
organizations. There are new concepts such as neo-urbanization when several different types
of development that is taking place simultaneously. Also showing us changes in education,
government, education, healthcare, business and workforces. Second research shows us
impact of hyperconnectivity and how a business begins to adapt to this phenomena.
According to Deloittes research, if countries in Africa, Latin America and south and East
Asia could raise Internet adoption to the level found in developed economies, it would boost
long-term productivity by 25%, increase the GDP growth rate by 72% and create 140m new
jobs. Arguably, the social benefit would be even greater. Deloitte predicts that average
incomes would rise by US$600 per head, lifting 160m people out of extreme poverty; that
Internet-based healthcare could save 2.5m lives; and that the education of some 640m
children would be improved. The marketing research firm eMarketer projects that the number
of people using smart phones globally will grow by 25% to 1.8bn in 2014, with more than
one-third of the entire global population owning one by 2017.
Conclusion
From researches we saw mostly advantages of hyperconnectivity, there are also disadvantages
but in my opinion disadvantages are lesser evil in this process. In the second research we can
see multiple benefits from hyperconnectivity in business, long-term productivity and
healthcare. By hyperconnecting the world we can reduce illiteracy and bring knowledge
closer to 3rd world countries. On the macroeconomic front this is generally good news, as
hyperconnectivity looks likely to drive GDP growth in future. Hyperconnectivity is arguably
the single most important trend in todays world, as communication technologies are changing
so many facets of life and opening so many new possibilities across individual, social, and
business spectra1.

References
1. Collins, S. 2011. Conflict and Disaster Management in a Hyper-Connected World:
Cooperative, Collaborative, Real Time. May

2. The Promise and Peril of Hyperconnectivity for Organizations and Societies

JOHN FREDETTE, REVITAL MAROM, KURT STEINERT, LOUIS WITTERS
3. The Economist : The hyperconnected economy