Electronic Tribalism.

DARPA, Arpanet Logical Map, 1973.

In... [the information society] a merciless power structure of networks is constructed, in which the most exclusive network, to which only the uppermost netocratic elite has access, is at the top. Family names mean nothing here, unlike feudalism. Wealth means nothing here, unlike under capitalism. The decisive factor governing where in the hierarchy an individual ends up is instead his or her attentionality: their access to and capacity to absorb, sort, overview, generate the necessary attention for and to share valuable information...

It is, paradoxically, the netocrats' ability to think beyond their own ego, to build their identity on membership of a group instead of individualism, on electronic tribalism instead of mass-mediated self-assertion, that leads to their understanding and being in control of the new world that is developing. Anxious tinkering with one's own ego, outdated  individualism, is instead characteristic of the new underclass. Much-vaunted self-realization is becoming a form of therapy that is keeping the old bourgeoisie and the new consumtariat occupied with private problems instead of interesting them in questioning the new order. Anyone who "believes in themself" is by definition a hopeless looser in the society dominated by the netocracy. In important networks, no one has the time or inclination to listen to a self-obsessed ego. Networking itself, the feedback loop and social intelligence are at the very heart of the netocracy. 

Alexander Bard & Jan Söderqvist, translated by Neil Smith, Netocracy, The New Power Elite and Life after Capitalism, Pearson Eductation, 2002, p.117-118.