'Everyone on Twitter is talking about it' is not the same as everyone talking about it

Trapped in their self-referential Twitter bubble, journalists often fail to realise that social media doesn't represent the whole world

Over the past few years, Twitter's status as a platform for public debate is a dog-whistle platitude that has become the gilded shield of First-Amendment-waving journalists everywhere, like our very own #NotAllMen hashtag, to justify the mishandling - and, in some cases, even endangerment - of our sources for digital stories (and, yes, tweets should be considered sources).

Theoretically, anyone can stumble upon your unprotected tweet; therefore, we can embed your tweet in our news story without informing you or asking your permission. But just because journalists can exercise that power, does that mean we ought to?