The subversive nature of all of this is really interesting, Harold. I agree with you completely that social media is like essentially giving knowledge workers their own individual factory. We already knew that the knowledge and skills that we've been developing are valuable, but for a few decades, we needed to rely on traditional organizations and power structures to give us a means for showcasing those skills. Now with social media, we can essentially become tiny "factories" unto ourselves. We also have greater flexibility to link up with others like ourselves in a sort of knowledge-based version of just-in-time manufacturing.

Given that, as I'm understanding your point, we could actually use your final sentence as a framework for thinking about the specific skills we need to develop:
*Connecting with information
*Building knowledge
*Building and sustaining trust
*Creating a credible online presence

I don't know if you meant these as categories or not, but I could see them working that way potentially.