Social capital, social networks

I'm interested in Charles Leadbetter's ideas on "the New Economy", particularly in relation to social capital. For some information society proponents the idea of the network has morphed from connections between computers to the social value to be released from human relationships.

"Networks of social relationships create social capital, which is absolutely critical in this new economy. An ethic of trust and collaboration is as important in the new economy as individualism and self-interest."

These themes can be seen in cyberspace in various guises. In commercial ventures like ebay, which functions on the basis of trust, of reputation (similar to branding, yet ebay allows individuals to gain the kind of trust associated with a brand through the building of a credible reputation). In information retrieval and use where, as users are empowered to retrieve information unmediated, authority is being replaced by trust (of a particular tool such as Google with its user-friendly interface and great results, or of a collaboration such as Wikipedia). Access rather than authority, empowerment rather than mediation? On a tangent, is this because information use is now "just-in-time", rather than "just-in-case"? Information only has to be good enough at the immediate time required, rather than a perfect, absolute ideal (effects on decision making?). It has a shorter shelf-life for individuals, in terms of their information use.

Leadbetter emphasises creativity as the driving force, the raw material of the knowledge economy. He acknowledges the danger that the new economy will exaggerate social divisions -

"The knowledge economy threatens to amplify existing sources of inequality while also creating distinctive divisions."