Disclaimer: I’ve known this guy for a while, and he’s one of the big-brained people in the Air Force.  Very smart.  And this struck a chord for me today, cutting through what social media’s bedrock claim to fame emphasizes:

What is meaningful about social networking is the ability of small groups of like-minded people to form over national and global distances. The proper analogy even for the most popular bloggers is not the blogger as charismatic leader of a populist revolution (or a counter-revolution) but the blogger as center of an insular revolutionary cell or intellectual salon with worldwide reach. These cells and salons, though their members may number in the thousands or even millions, are small by global standards. Seen in this light, blogging is preaching to the converted before beginning the difficult, compromising work involved in mass proselytizing. Blogging is what comes before the revolution.

Of course, I recommend the rest of the post, here.  He’s also on my blogroll, to the right.