Globalization 3.0

Thomas Friedman presents a lecture at MIT on The World is Flat 3.0:

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His thesis is that the world economy has progressed through three stages of globalization. The first was marked by integration at a country level; the second at a corporate level and the third is at the level of the individual. As a result, economic competition has progressed into each of these three levels and now is at the level of the individual. Power at each stage was derived through integration: the British Empire; Global Corporations and now the individual’s ability to collaborate with others.

Friedman offers that the key to success of the individual in this 3.0 world is networking; building cross-world relationships at an individual level. Does this suggest deeper roots to the Social Networking phenomenon currently sweeping the web?