Why the TwitterFiles matter

Photo by Edgar Moran on Unsplash

“What’s going on?”

It’s a simple question, but how do we even begin to answer it? Our sense of reality is constructed through several means. Firstly, our direct experiences. We tend to trust those most. Then, we tend to rely on the first-hand accounts of those who are closest to us: Our friends, family, and colleagues. But the rest is a bit of a puzzle, constructed piece-by-piece through a mish-mash of accounts we eavesdrop on by accident or with intent either through traditional news/media sources, or via social media sources.

This is where platforms like Twitter come in.

If the apparatus of Twitter is broken, so is, at least in part, our sense-making ability.

As I was impatiently reading through Part I & II of the TwitterFile drops, my immediate reaction was a bit of disappointment. I was craving for some bombshell scoops. I wanted to know something new, something I wasn’t previously aware of before. Instead, it was merely confirmations of things we’ve lo…