1. A protocol for facilitating a peer-to-peer real time network in which network state information and data processing is delegated to user nodes, the protocol comprising: each node determining a subset of network nodes deemed relevant to that node and limiting communications to that subset; each node undertaking semantic filtering to limit communications with another node to data types relevant to that other node; and each node determining, for each node of the subset, a broadcast protocol which optimizes communications to that node.