Do you think social media sites hinders the intellectual growth of the Internet? Or do, you think it actually helps create more information?
Anecdote: myself (and I'm sure many users here) type URLs in the address bar of the browser. My father, who adopted the internet later, types everything in Google. My mother, who adopted it even later, never really leaves Facebook. To her, it's the internet. She doesn't even know to go to Google to search for things. In fact, Facebook is the only thing she really uses the computer for. That's powerful.
So, I guess I'm saying that I don't really think that the internet's usage has swayed too far from being a way to seek information. What's changed is how we get to the information.
And THAT is a good thing: I can find information easier. And there always were, and always will be hubs for various topics, that are relatively low on noise, and as more people discover the internet, more will find it, even if they spend some time yapping about on pure-noise sites first.
And that is also a good thing.