It indicates the ability of a trusted organization to get information to a large swath of humanity quickly. AP -trusted organization. Twitter- quick messaging platform. It's that simple right? We simply live in a new era, when information can travel faster than a whisper. 30 years ago, someone would have had to somehow get the NYTimes to unknowingly print that the white house had been bombed in order to get this effect. I suppose if there is a silver lining it is that as fast as the false information is put out there it is refuted. In the times of the printing press, you may have to wait till the following day or at least until the evening news to get a retraction.

I think what we see is what we've always had, it's just faster and more susceptible to infiltration.

I also think to say that they are "easy to manipulate" is false. Name 5 other times in the last 5 years when social media has caused major market shifts based on false information.

This sort of thing will happen again, but then it has been happening for some time now