This is a wise and thoughtful post. I agree that the wisdom of “crowds” and has seemed impersonal – it's also been used to talk about social and political action: yet, crowds are not always right, nor kind! This idea of community wisdom, and how it connects to the person reminds me of another phrase, “the personal is political” — and here, the personal is the binding matter for community.

Thank you for for pointing this out – it's important to remember, and to support!

This is a wise and thoughtful post. I agree that the wisdom of “crowds” and has seemed impersonal – it's also been used to talk about social and political action: yet, crowds are not always right, nor kind! This idea of community wisdom, and how it connects to the person reminds me of another phrase, “the personal is political” — and here, the personal is the binding matter for community.

Thank you for for pointing this out – it's important to remember, and to support!

The line between on and offline has blurred. Not in some virtual world way but as a real connection between info and relationships that extends both ways.

People are more informed (as David above commented) and basically more civil.

Good stuff in my opinion.

No but in my opinion it certainly augments it…by letting us know more about the people we know or meet in the real world of the street. Information is free and omnipresent so our ability to know people better before we meet or augment that personal knowledge later is true.

And it makes it easier to meet people. I've made friends online that I will certainly seek out to meet them now. This would have not happened without the dynamic possibilities of social engagement online.

These personal, intersecting, shared communities are changing how we learn, interact with people, conduct business and make new friends. And yes, both on and offline. Powerful and inspiring stuff.

For folks like yourself, and Mark, who are envisioning and building the apps and platforms of tomorrow, I think these new dynamic community baselines empower you to create what was previously unimaginable.

All this makes work–and life–more interesting all the time.

You nailed it with the transition from anonymous to personal, combined with the many-to-many communication now possible on many platforms.

It's fascinating to think about the implications of all this. People are forming impromptu communities based around shared interests and mutual respect. The resulting conversations are simply more interesting than those which occur when the only common denominator is physical proximity.

I believe the web is making us all – if not smarter – at least much better informed about the subjects we care about. And that's all down to the phenomena you describe.