How networked are we?

At a time when networks of people we know or to whom we can reach become more and more important, here's a simple question.....how well networked are we in Chapelboroham? Sure, we can reach the people we know or use Facebook et al to reach somewhat beyond that. But suppose you just want to reach out to someone you see in a shop, or even down the street, or in the news. How easy is it to find and attempt to connect with that person? Pretty hard, from my experience.

What if we created a directory of masked (to avoid spam) e-mail addresses for the whole area so anyone could send a note to anyone else? Real names but no e-mail addresses visible - it really works!