Cyberpunk is sort of a love it or hate it thing for many people, but I think Snow Crash is a good example of being "dorky" in your presentation, but having a really great sense of humor in the prose. I think some of the reasons this book works is because the happenings are so absurd, but there is some satirical workings behind it all.
The premise is like some other media coined "cyberpunk" where there are dead-beat characters living as every man or woman for themselves in a hostile and crazy environment. I'll echo the other comments that the claims about a future as portrayed in the novel are not completely far off (Online dating, avatars, virtual reality). The internet is going in directions that lead toward virtual reality and there are already some examples for many with Second Life, World of Warcraft, forums, etc. that allow people to portray themselves to others in a different and more favorable way than they can in real-life.
There may be certain ideas you can take from this work of literature, but I think a big part of cyberpunk is about reacting to the new technologies in the late 80's and early 90's. Computers and the internet was boasting radically changing social functions of society. Naturally, people will respond to a radical claim radically, so cyberpunk feels like a sort bizarre look on what might happen by taking elements of the present and putting a twist on it. I think Stephenson is doing something similar in trying to propose some "what if's" about our government and how are society is functioning. Could we have something like a Metaverse and will everything become corporations? I guess that's something we have to let hackers find out in the future.
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