Small groups still rule

In an in interview on IT Conversations titled, The big zero, Doc Searls made a fascinating point.  In the midst of this unprecedented explosion of connectivity, when more people can connect with more other people than ever before, its still small groups that work.  You hear talk about aggregation and the wisdom of the crowd, but small groups remain the most enjoyable and productive.  What the Internet changes is that the members of that group can be geographically distributated in a way that wasn't possible before.  You can find the best 10 or 20 people in the world, rather than in your city or state or country.

In my personal experience, beyond bare information gathering, the most useful Internet thing for me has been an email list.  It was originally a group of friends from college, and has expanded over the years to include their spouses.  It's still less than 20 people.  The next primary use is for keeping in touch with my family.  Again, small group. 

The possibility of finding the right 10 ro 20 people is huge on today's Internet.  What needs a lot of work is how to find them.