The World is Not Flat. It is probabaly flat if you are the CEO of an MNC with a network of executives, branch offices and collaborators at your disposal.
But if you are just starting out .. the world is not flat. The Internet is the only network that brings your competitors and collaborators together. You have to seek the opportunity and you have to find ways and means to fulfill it.
Social Networking users can identify a private network of other users - their social network. Email, blogs and social networking are means to publish. But the publication is in text format. Now suppose there is a private network of data. The network includes the text and network charcateristics that help process the text. Such a network can lead to Network Thinking.
Interesting Papers
As We May Think - Vannervar Bush
Complex Systems: Network Thinking -