the Internet, it's made of people

Time puts it rather generously: Man (err, Person) of the Year 2006?  You.

This paragraph is awesome

Sure, it's a mistake to romanticize all this any more than is strictly necessary. Web 2.0 harnesses the stupidity of crowds as well as its wisdom. Some of the comments on YouTube make you weep for the future of humanity just for the spelling alone, never mind the obscenity and the naked hatred.

The usual suspects like Second Life are reported upon, as well as the required "this bubble is different" story: Web Boom 2.0

You know what people always say during a bubble?  "You don't understand, it's different this time."

I'm sorry, you can dance whatever 2.0 dance you want, but you can't change the laws of economics.  If you don't make any money, you can't stay in business.  There is no Money 2.0

BusinessWeek is rather more mercenary about it: Best Idea of 2006?  Free labor.

The year 2006 may well be remembered as the annus mirabilis of free work. Whether it comes from open-source developers, obsessive fans, angry customers, or lonely Web addicts looking to burnish their egos with a little attention online, businesses have learned how to leverage the gratis workforce as never before. So much so that futurists Alvin and Heidi Toffler argue that “prosuming,” or creating what we consume, is restructuring the economy by funneling free money from the hidden economy back into the mainstream one that economists track.

via The Toronto Star - Tasty reads from the newsstand - December 17, 2006
The prosumer concept seems to be having a resurgence.
I mentioned it in my review of The Long Tail.