Put your ears to the ground. Hear that rumble, like the sound of galloping hooves rapidly approaching? That, my friends, is the sound of the system catching up.

Here's a good example from the New York Times. LinkedIn, the 'social network for professionals', plans to offer companies a sub-set of services that employees can use to collaborate on internal projects and share information. In other words, a corporate intranet with 2.0 bells and whistles.

You couldn't find a better metaphor for the future of online content and communities.

Because LinkedIn, like its more frivolous social networking cousins, is very much a manifestation of the 'me' web generation. It's where you go to build your personal brand and capture some of that there online real estate.

Now that the very tools we use to promote ourselves are being offered to our employers, it will be interesting to see who opts in and who opts out. Assuming, of course, you are given the choice.

And sorry for the cynicism, but wasn't it always obvious that anyone who was going to make a buck from this social networking lark was going to sell us back to the system?

On a personal note, I reached for the brandy and the service revolver when I read this: "The average age of a LinkedIn user is 41, the point in life where people are less likely to build their digital identities around dates, parties and photos of revelry".

So true, so true.