My sense--but isn't a very well-developed sense--is that a blend ought to be best, but that the rise of social media (as currently construed) has empowered humans' natural inclination to tribalism and mistrust.

So I think it's the worst climate for making the directness side effective since the Jim Crow era. That still doesn't mean that directness should be out, just that ideally it should be more thoughtfully deployed.

My hunch is that Loretta J. Ross' calling people in gets the balance about right. Is anyone doing effectiveness-testing of strategies, though?