This is a fantastic description of the social power that internet harnesses.  It touches on the wisdom of crowds in an articulate way.  Hat tip Stowe.

.. the insight that a networked culture is enabling a new form of bottom-up power, as diverse groups of dispersed people pool their expertise and confront problems that are much more complex than they could handle individually. They are able to do so because of the ways that new media platforms support the emergence of temporary social networks that exist only as long as they are needed to face specific challenges or respond to the immediate needs of their members. Witness, for example, the coalition of diverse ideological interests that came together last year to fight for the principle of network neutrality on the Web.

Source: Confessions of an Aca/Fan: The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins: From YouTube to YouNiversity