I can totally understand & relate to this; when Twitter goes all Fail Whale on my ass, everything just seems so darn quiet & static with regards to my work.
I think that the buzz of social media has the same effect on productivity (thus, both good & bad) as working in a very busy city; in that environment it is possible to take all of that positive energy / buzz and infuse your own productivity, but only if you’re not easily distracted…