If you aren’t a fan of “The Office”, NBC’s hit sitcom about a regional paper company’s branch in Scranton, PA – skip this post.

Here at Kosmix, we are fans of consumer web technologies of myriad forms. Like most other industry watchers, we’ve been fascinated by the transformation of the phrase “social network” from a dry, academic, ivory tower concept to a live system used daily by millions of ordinary people. We’ve watched the rise of MySpace, the sale of Bebo, and Facebook’s staggering valuations (whether you believe if they are real is a separate matter). We’ve been amused as we saw the whole thing taken too far: social networks for dogs and cats, social networks for people over the age of 110, social networks for the recently undead (okay, the last two may not be real).

But here is something you haven’t heard of yet: “The Dunder Mifflin Infinity Social Network”. For those who joined the party late, Infinity is the paper merchant’s rather late, rather overdue effort at creating a website to peddle – what else – paper.

Yes, its true. Tonight’s episode of “The Office” has Ryan admitting to the entire branch that the new social networking features “haven’t worked out so well” but that it would be pretty amazing to have a “virtual paper merchant that you could use with your buddies”.

What’s next? A social network for leprechauns who don’t like to wear green?

As always, we wait with our fingers crossed.