An interesting similarity can be drawn to today's digital social network. The main idea of the article is that coffee created cafe culture which in turn created a shift in the way people interacted and eased the exchange of ideas that eventually helped fuel the effort that led to fall of the empire.

In a way, Facebook created a a similar shift in the way people communicate and made exchange of ideas easier. And this, arguable, has already supported several major real-world changes such as the Arab Spring, US election meddling, etc.