Twitter is actually super-good if you follow the right people. It's a vastly better source of information about covid-19 than the CDC, for example, because the experts posting on Twitter don't ignore the experience of non-US countries, don't try to psychoanalyze their audience to figure out how to craft their message in the most manipulative way possible, and aren't paralyzed by downside risk aversion. Of course, if you follow the wrong people you'll probably find yourself with a pantry full of ivermectin or whatever the quack treatment of choice happens to be right now.
Twitter is infinitely better at covering breaking news than the MSM. Like better in the sense of not even being in the same general universe. This assumes that you're following people who do nuance, and also that you're following people who represent a diverse set of viewpoints. You can certainly build a little bubble that exactly reinforces all your priors if you choose to do so.
I've mentioned before that Twitter provides a public service by giving media figures an opportunity to beclown themselves in public. If it weren't for Twitter, you might think that Nicole Hannah Jones (for example) is a cutting-edge thinker because of all the credibility laundering done by the New York Times and MacArthur Foundation. Thanks to Twitter, we know that she's just another troll who happens to have a platform. Speaking as someone who thinks that we should view the MSM with a high degree of cynicism, I consider this dynamic to be an unalloyed benefit to society.
The problem with Twitter is that it's too easy to let it melt your brain. But honestly that falls under the category of user error.
from him.
