Many people have often pointed to scientists as an example of this productive use of twitter, but if you look at the recent clash between Yann Lecun and Timnit Gebru that got some attention, it even causes shitstorms between otherwise polite academics who have conversations on what one wouldn't consider to be a mainstream issue.

The medium is the message and sooner or later the twitter mechanisms get everyone regardless whether you have good social media hygiene. It's built for outrage. Instantanious nature, slot-machine like feeds, blinking like buttons, 'getting ratio'd', virality, this is what it's built for.

Plus the format itself. Twitter is inherently optimised for soundbites. Nuance and high-impact, 5-seconds-at-a-time communication don't really mix.

Then add the incentives built into any (anti)social network: they automate piling on. Engagement über alles, users be damned.

[I am painfully aware of the irony of posting a critical post about Twitter, quoting material that was originally posted at Twitter. The notion of pileon automation comes off of this tweet: https://twitter.com/mcclure111/status/1143950836533473286?la...]