What was the"internet warp," and how did it affect informatiom on the mountain

From the text:

Oddly, most climbers on Everest knew less about Ngawang's plight than tens of thousands of people who were nowhere near the mountain. The information warp was due to the Internet, and to those of us at Base Camp it was nothing less than surreal. A teammate might call home on a satellite phone, for instance, and learn what the South Africans were doing at Camp Two from a spouse in New Zealand or Michigan who'd been surfing the World Wide Web.

At least five Internet sites were posting dispatches* from correspondents at Everest Base Camp.