Good questions.

In the time of social media, everyone is a reporter with access to a wider audience and a means of recording – in both the technological and archival sense. Things said in the heat of the moment in a public sphere are given a newfound longevity when they’re captured, pored over and discussed by an exponentially multiplying audience. There are times when this is widely seen as a positive development

via The Tim and Freya show: Is social media changing the public space? – Storyful.