Several nations including the UAE and Saudi Arabia have been named as some of the top connected countries in the World, according to a new, interactive application run by Western Union.
The Network Challenge was launched by Western Union, a leading money transfer provider, in July this year to mark its 160th Anniversary and celebrate its status as one of the worlds’s most globally connected companies, with more than 424,000 Agent locations in over 200 countries and territories.
The global search was fuelled by a new interactive, online Application called Your World. It visualises Facebook users’ global connections and awards a score for how globally connected they are. Users can compare their ranking against their Facebook Friends; others in their country and others in the world.
The findings showed that several Middle Eastern Countries are expanding their connections around the world. Both Qatar and the United Arab Emirates came 9th and 15th in the global rankings respectively, while Saudi Arabia and Egypt made the top 50 most connected countries worldwide. The findings reflect the regions increasing usage of internet and social media technologies across the region as a whole. Although the number of users was much less in Kuwait, Lebanon and Jordan, these countries had some of the largest global connections in the competition. Users in Oman and Bahrain also contributed to the challenge.
The winner of the Network Challenge as the world’s most connected individual was a 26-year old Portuguese charity worker, Hugo Pereira from Lisbon, Portugal. With 4,932 friends in 124 different locations across the globe, and a Network Score of 476133. Pereira beat more than 250,000 Your World users worldwide to claim the title of the world’s most globally connected person. By comparison, the average person in the region has a Network Score of 4678 with 239 friends in 19 different locations.
Pereira attributes his feat to years of networking in his role as global president of charity AIESEC, the world’s largest youth-led organisation, which has 60,000 active members in more than 1,800 universities in 110 countries and territories.
To celebrate Pereira’s status, Western Union will invite him to use his impressive global network as a force for good next month. He will be given the opportunity to invite his Facebook Friends to participate in Western Union’s launch of a major new initiative.
“I’m astounded to be named the world’s most networked person. The reach of my social network is testament to the work of AIESEC, which is all about creating positive global connections. “I’m excited to be able to work with Western Union next month to use my global network to support good causes. I’m moving on from AIESEC to work for a healthcare charity in India called ICHHA, so hope to be able to make even more global connections in the meantime,” Pereira said.
“As someone who already uses his global network for good, Pereira is very deserving of his new title. As a globally connected brand it certainly seems fitting that Western Union teams up with the world’s most globally networked person to lend our support to good causes, together,” Hikmet Ersek Western Union President and CEO, said.