Rate of Communication

Pertaining to my thesis statement, I focused on the way/rate at which we receive information. Social media and social networking sites have drastically changed (some would venture so far as to say improved) the rate at which we communicate. Take the KONY 2012 video for example. Within a matter of months, the video (which contained highly debatable political content), had over 86 million views. Also, think back to the horrific events that occured at Virginia Tech in 2007. Through the media and online resources, as well as social networking sites, news of the events spread like wildfire. Is this a helpful or hurtful aspect of social media? Is the ability to access information seemingly instantaneously amazing, or potentially harmful? Thoughts...?