honestly im almost positive it isnt a who you know issue!
i am guessing here!! but i think it was more of a luck of the draw thing! aside from the contest winners and focus testers who were in long before they mentioned the closed beta
i imagine from the amount of people who applied and the questions on the application, i think it was totally random lucks of the draw based on some system specs...but again im only guessing!, we probably will never know