According to researchers at the University of Washington which was referenced in this NY Times article
“…companies would benefit from encouraging richer social connections,”
The Times article also mentions …
“Google may be great, but people are greater. Paraphrased roughly, that is what researchers at the University of Washington found in a study released last week. People are more likely to seek information from other people than to search the Internet or an intranet, and they are three times more likely to go to people they know than to outside experts…”