I don't actually think it's better than this was pre-Twitter. In the past, you could find more or less anyone in the phone book. Basically every person who suc

I don't actually think it's better than this was pre-Twitter. In the past, you could find more or less anyone in the phone book. Basically every person who succeeded in tech without family connections pre-1990 got their start by using this (Steve Jobs immediately comes to mind; he home-dialed Bill Hewlett (yes, that Bill Hewlett) as a child, asked for spare parts, and got a job because of it). For a while, you could also do this before people were scared to post their mail addresses on the internet. Have a question for someone? Type USERNAME@DOMAIN.COM into the box, and they'll answer in a few days! That's more or less gone, though. That manipulation is now the standard should be looked on with incredible sadness rather than "Wow, what a huge opportunity!"