Do communication capabilities strongly influence the form of human social and governmental structures?

Well, duh. Of course they do. You could write an entire thesis on this based on what happened to society when interchangable type was developed, and literacy became something other than a characteristic of the elite.

As for ramifications: In general, the more widespread the opportunities to communicate the better. I applaud the internet, YouTube, and the many other mechanisms that now permit the average person to have nearly the same worldwide access of multi-million dollar news and print companies.

It will be highly instructive in the next year or two to see who will try to put a hammerlock on this technology and other communications systems.