Social technologies, on a mass scale, connect people in ways that facilitate sharing
information, thereby reducing the opportunities for marketplace exploitation—whether
by charging more than a competing supplier for otherwise identical goods and services
or charging anything at all for products that simply don’t work. Sunlight is a powerful
disinfectant, and the collective knowledge that powers the Social Web is the sunlight that
shines in these new connected marketplaces. The Social Web dramatically levels the playing field by making information plentiful, just as it also levels businesses and organizations that operate on the principles of making information scarce.