Cal Newport, author of Deep Work and the Study Hacks blog often writes about the downside of social media, how it saps attention and is designed to be manipulative. It has its advantages, but in reality it is a corporate product increasingly designed to harvest vast amounts of user data. It streams us what it has calculated we want to see.
Being streamed via social media is convenient and easy. We get a steady flow of things we generally find interesting without having to do much except scroll down. We see a targeted collection of posts, tweets, boosted posts and ads from the algorithm.
Seeking is different. Much different.
You are the one deciding what to see, not an algorithm. You can stop in to see what various friends are up to. You can visit specific Pages and learn what is going on. You can browse websites and subscribe to blogs that you find interesting. What you see will be what you look for.
Streaming is passive. Seeking is active.