The Russian invasion of Ukraine is not only the largest European land conflict since the 1940s — it's also the first for the TikTok and YouTube generation.

As videos pour in across Twitter and Instagram and other social media platforms are leveraged for credit or propaganda, it's become evident that we are in a brand new era, much like the one that arrived with twenty-four-hour cable news coverage of the US invasion of Iraq in 1990. Back then it was grainy night vision images of patriot missile launches and target explosions that dazzled homes all over the United States. Now anxious audiences simply launch their favorite social media app on their smart phone to see the latest hi-definition shelling of buildings in Kyiv from Russian forces, or viral news clips of Ukrainians threatening to "fuck some Russians up".

CNN's Brian Stelter attempted to take credit on behalf of all network news media for the coverage, saying on Twitter: "The past twenty-four hours are a reminder that consumers in an era of YouTube and TikTok still gravitate to trusted, established news outlets during emergencies. They 'know where to go,' so to speak. And television coverage is essential."