You're correct, access is an important consideration. However, if I remember correctly, the majority of the world's population do not have access. Not to take anything away from the billions that do, but, there are some very intelligent people without access that have the potential to further enrich our lives via their creations. I guess what I'm trying to get to is, web2.0 applications/services are amazing at connecting us however, the numbers connected can only sit at a local maximum, as opposed to an absolute.

You're also correct in saying it's all relative. I wonder how many of the 100 richest people in the world actively use these technologies? I suppose this information would be near impossible to obtain, I assume the members of that list wish to guard their online identies/activities etc.

You're correct, access is an important consideration. However, if I remember correctly, the majority of the world's population do not have access. Not to take anything away from the billions that do, but, there are some very intelligent people without access that have the potential to further enrich our lives via their creations. I guess what I'm trying to get to is, web2.0 applications/services are amazing at connecting us however, the numbers connected can only sit at a local maximum, as opposed to an absolute.

You're also correct in saying it's all relative. I wonder how many of the 100 richest people in the world actively use these technologies? I suppose this information would be near impossible to obtain, I assume the members of that list wish to guard their online identies/activities etc.

While I agree with you that we are not as 'encompassing as we'd like
to believe' there are a couple issues here:

1) Access – The third world countries your cousins live in may not
have the infrastructure to support high speed internet or access to
computers

2) Reach – I agree that that technologies such as Twitter are somewhat
limited to a set of tech-friendly adopters, but this group continues
to grow as young generations embrace new communications styles.

3) Event-Driven Marketing – If you look at real-world applications of
a technology such as Twitter you can see that it really does have
value in a situation like the earthquake in China. Sadly, it sometime
takes a tragedy for a new type of communication to emerge and validate
its worth

4) It's all relative (no pun) – Just because you don't see all your
friends using these new platforms doesn't mean they are not being
adopted. Twitter and FriendFeed are adding huge numbers of new users
daily…it simply takes a long time to permeate through a large enough
cross-section of the population that you'd really notice it

Sam