Diana Farrell of McKinsey Global Institute, McKinsey's think tank, just wrapped up an amazing tutorial called Ten Trends That Matter to Business. It was chock full of startling facts about everything from the growth of the middle class in places such as China, India and Brazil (975 million new households in the next 20 years) to the size of the socially-responsible investing opportunity. But the stat that made the room gasp and titter? Some 12% of couples married last year met online.

Farrell used the newlywed statistic to highlight the trend of social life in a technologically connected world. This is both an opportunity and risk for businesses. Technological connectedness means businesses that do poorly or disappoint consumers will be slammed online. But innovators that figure out how to capitalize on consumers' increasing dependence on the 'Net and their mobile phones for social interactions can thrive. Come to think of it, a good example of this might just be online dating site.