They bring together groups of people who differ in their ways and values. The edge for technologies of connection is a conflict between global and local values. These technologies enable people to do something at a more global scale that previously they could only do locally. Just inventing or introducing a technology does not by itself cause change. Furthermore, ideas or dreams precede inventions.
Inventions don t generally appear on the scene unexpected, and then trigger change.
Technologies are inspired by dreams and start out with only the crudest implementations. They are promoted by enthusiasts but discounted and disliked by many others. They are improved as they are used. During this period there is a struggle between the old order and the new, between what society is and what it is becoming. The Internet is in this period of becoming.