Venture capitalist Fred Wilson , principal of Union Square Ventures , is among the most active participants in social media. So he understands better than most the power of the Internet to both build up and knock down industries. He spoke recently at Google 's Mountain View, CA offices about this power--"disruption." The most contemporary example of a "disrupted" industry is the news industry, and newspapers in particular. Several daily papers have shut down their printing presses so far this year. And the biggest papers are having trouble figuring out what to do with upstarts like Twitter and Facebook. Wilson shows this slide in his talk to illustrate how quickly Twitter has grown in unique visitors on the Web: In the talk, Wilson considers what industries might be next. Consumer finance, education, and energy top his list. Here's his talk: Wilson's slides are all available here .