The Permanently Connected Group (PeCoG)

Book excerpt: The small group uniquely benefits from the ubiquitously available connective possibilities of mobile communication technologies. The group chat feature of mobile instant messaging applications (MIMAs, e.g., WhatsApp, Signal) provides small groups with a permanently accessible communication place where members can relay information to all others at once, independent of their spatiotemporal location. The resulting permanent collective addressability (PCA) of members has implications for group processes (e.g., group coordination, socio-emotional concerns of members). This book investigates the communicative activity in MIMA chats of 18 naturally occurring, goal-oriented groups in a non-professional setting using a standardized content analysis. It thus extends findings on individual-level expectations of permanent connectedness and shows how a group using such technology can be understood as a permanently connected group (PeCoG) and group-level manifestation of the hybridity of mediated and face-to-face communication constituting our current communication reality. Above all, this book demonstrates the potential of small group research to describe current phenomena relevant to communication science.