It's so clearly social media to me, that I can't even think what operational definition you'd have to have to disagree with that.

What I suspect is going on is that people are so accustomed to deriding social media that they can't acknowledge SN as being a positive example of it.

That's a bit reminiscent of how "conspiracy theory" has come to be used to mean "bizarre idea" and no one refers to something like the official account of 9/11 as a "conspiracy theory" even if it obviously is.