This is an enthusiastic piece SebPaquet wrote when it became apparent to him that the Internet is coming of age as a social networking technology, and that this has broad cultural implications.

Summary: Online communities afford individuals the freedom to move across cultures as they see fit. This makes them emerge as bastions of intellectual life where culture-makers increasingly like to hang out. This evolution means that over time, online communities will become a vital part of cultural development.

[Full story and discussion on kuro5hin].

An [article] by William Butler O'Connor in the journal First Monday that reaches a similar conclusion using primarily economic arguments.