Connectivity (media)
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Connectivity refers broadly to social connections forged through mediated communications systems. That is, 'since the arrival of the World Wide Web and the spread of mobile communications, mediated connectivity has been quietly normalized as central to a consolidating ‘global imaginary’ One aspect of this is the ability of the
social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
to accumulate
economic capital In finance, mainly for financial services firms, economic capital (ecap) is the amount of risk capital, assessed on a realistic basis, which a firm requires to cover the risks that it is running or collecting as a going concern, such as market r ...
from the users' connections and activities on social media platforms by using certain mechanisms in their architecture. According to several scholars (
van Dijck Van Dijck is a Dutch toponymic surname meaning "from (the) dike". The more common form Van Dijk uses the modern spelling of "dike". The form Van Dyck reflects a common replacement of the original IJ digraph with a Y. Notable people with the su ...
and Poell) "it is a key element of social media logic, having a material and metaphorical importance in social media culture".This concept originates from the technological term of "
connectivity Connectivity may refer to: Computing and technology * Connectivity (media), the ability of the social media to accumulate economic capital from the users connections and activities * Internet connectivity, the means by which individual terminal ...
" but its application to the media field has acquired additional social and cultural implications. The increasing role of social media in everyday life serves as the basis of such connectivity in the 21st century. It shows the interrelations between the users activities on social media and at the same time the empowerment of the social media platforms with the data that was produced by the users and given to those services for granted.


Notion of connectivity

Connectivity developed with the rise of the Internet, first with the introduction Web 1.0 and later
Web 2.0 Web 2.0 (also known as participative (or participatory) web and social web) refers to websites that emphasize user-generated content, ease of use, participatory culture and interoperability (i.e., compatibility with other products, systems, and ...
. New improvements in equipment, software, the advancement of speed and access have increased the level and quality of connectivity. Along with these improvements, new media such as social networking systems (e.g.
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
,
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
,
Google+ Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
), websites that provide access to
user-generated content User-generated content (UGC), alternatively known as user-created content (UCC), is any form of content, such as images, videos, text, testimonials, and audio, that has been posted by users on online platforms such as social media, discussion f ...
(e.g.
Youtube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
, Myspace,
Flickr Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and professional ...
), trading and marketing sites (e.g.
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
,
eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...
,
Groupon Groupon is an American global e-commerce marketplace connecting subscribers with local merchants by offering activities, travel, goods and services in 13 countries. Based in Chicago, Groupon was launched there in November 2008, launching soon af ...
) and also game sites (e.g.
FarmVille ''FarmVille'' is a series of agriculture-simulation social network game developed and published by Zynga in 2009. It is similar to ''Happy Farm'' and ''Farm Town''. Its gameplay involves various aspects of farmland management, such as plowing l ...
, The Sims Social) have become an essential part of everyday life of an average user: "Just as electricity in the 19th and 20th centuries transformed societies by penetrating every fibre of people’s personal and professional lives, network connectivity is probably the most powerful transformative force in early 21st-century cultures". This made a shift in the understanding of the nature of connectivity and moved the initial focus just from a technical side of the notion to its increasingly acquired techno-socio-cultural character. As mentioned before, connectivity is built on the principles of
Web 2.0 Web 2.0 (also known as participative (or participatory) web and social web) refers to websites that emphasize user-generated content, ease of use, participatory culture and interoperability (i.e., compatibility with other products, systems, and ...
. that promote an openness, create the vision of empowerment of the user in the generation of a new content and coordination of the information flow on the Internet. These mechanisms encourage staying in touch with each other despite distances and share as much data as possible. According to Youngs, the development of the Internet has resulted in the deeper permeation of
ICTs Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computers, ...
into public and private spheres of peoples' life, their relationships and spheres of identity. Hence, connectivity becomes a resource of maintaining these activities. However, van Dijck notices that this connectivity is not just a neutral feature of new media, but is manufactured by the combination of human and technological resources, where the role of technologies is intransparent. Algorithms and protocols that are part of such platforms prompt users activities and online experiences on social media platforms. One of the most prominent activities on social media includes sharing and as Kennedy argues, "sharing rhetoric draws on a cultural image of connectivity. Social media platforms are not the only actors to use such imagining, mobile-based platforms do the same. Network providers, handset manufacturers, and social media platforms each promote social activities of togetherness enabled by their products which evidences a sustained cultural norm of sharing through teletechnologies for the purpose of affective connectivity". Therefore, such architecture creates even bigger demand in connectivity that is continuously exploited by the online market. As
José van Dijck Johanna Francisca Theodora Maria "José" van Dijck (born 15 November 1960, in Boxtel) is a new media author and a distinguished university professor in media and digital society at Utrecht University since 2017. From 2001 to 2016 she was a professo ...
notices, connectivity quickly assumed the connotation of users accumulating social capital, while in fact this term increasingly referred to owners amassing economic capital. As the result, social media gain political and economic importance having the power at the levels of grassroots activists, governments, and corporations.


Example of the application of connectivity

Facebook can serve as a good example how connectivity is being produced and exploited by social media. Van Dijck mentions three concepts implemented in the technological side of connectivity which result in the connective structure of the platform and in the creation of its additional social and cultural dimensions. These are platform, protocol and interface. Several scholars (van Dijck, Gillespie) mention in their works the ambiguity of the term "platform" that promises to bring openness, access, to be neutral and help people build social connections and participate in online activities, but in fact implies a more complicated structure of the media, most of the time created for the profit purposes and as the enhancement of control under the users. As for the protocols and interfaces, the algorithms behind the platform are intransparent and presented to the user as intermediaries for 'staying in touch', being connected, encouraging to make those connections, but at the same time the platform itself "facilitates the cultivation of 'weak ties' as well as the fabrication of 'strong ties'". Therefore, connectivity becomes a new type of social capital gained from the platform's working principles.


Culture of connectivity

"Culture of connectivity" is the term suggested by the Dutch scholar
José van Dijck Johanna Francisca Theodora Maria "José" van Dijck (born 15 November 1960, in Boxtel) is a new media author and a distinguished university professor in media and digital society at Utrecht University since 2017. From 2001 to 2016 she was a professo ...
for defining the contemporary interweaving of the online and offline practices and the omnipresence of social media in modern life. The researcher explained the emergence of this culture as the process that evolved in a rather short period of time and indicated the shift from "networked communication to "performed" sociality, from a
participatory culture Participatory culture, an opposing concept to consumer culture, is a culture in which private individuals (the public) do not act as consumers only, but also as contributors or producers (prosumers). The term is most often applied to the product ...
to culture to connectivity". Moreover, the evolution of this culture was one of the parts of the changing processes that took place in private, corporate and public domains.


See also

*
Web 2.0 Web 2.0 (also known as participative (or participatory) web and social web) refers to websites that emphasize user-generated content, ease of use, participatory culture and interoperability (i.e., compatibility with other products, systems, and ...
*
Participatory culture Participatory culture, an opposing concept to consumer culture, is a culture in which private individuals (the public) do not act as consumers only, but also as contributors or producers (prosumers). The term is most often applied to the product ...
*
Sharing economy In capitalism, the sharing economy is a socio-economic system built around the sharing of resources. It often involves a way of purchasing goods and services that differs from the traditional business model of companies hiring employees to produce ...
*
Network economics In economics, a network effect (also called network externality or demand-side economies of scale) is the phenomenon by which the value or utility a user derives from a good or service depends on the number of users of compatible products. Netw ...
* ''
The Wealth of Networks ''The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom'' is a book by Harvard Law School professor Yochai Benkler published by Yale University Press on April 3, 2006. The book has been recognized as one of the most influen ...
''


References

{{reflist Social media Media studies Information Age Information economy