Hacking is far from being dead.
I would say that it has never been so alive and well since now is so much easier to find the information to get you started (and as a result it is no longer as elitist as it used to be).
What you're talking about is the stuff that goes mainstream.
If your references are newspapers, tv news and now even (most) blogs, you get a distorted picture.
Of course twitter is just marketing (and very little hacking). And that's why everybody knows it (and use it).
Real hacking doesn't break the news because few people are able to understand it. And journalists (sadly) aren't paid to understand what they're talking about or to spread knowledge. They're paid to sell copies (and/or ads).
It has always been like this.