Bangladesh, Nov. 14 -- The online spin began even before Wednesday's impeachment hearing got underway.

Moments before House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff could welcome witnesses to the first public hearing of the impeachment inquiry, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to dismiss the "New Hoax. Same Swamp."

Former Obama administration aides-turned-podcasters dissected the hearings in real time. They broadcast their running conversation on Slack, an instant messaging platform popular in workplaces, over YouTube to thousands of left-leaning followers.

And partisans on both sides of the aisle used Twitter to debate the significance of a revelation by William Taylor, the top diplomat in Ukraine, that one of his staff membe...