I suspect there is a general 'content ecosystem' where these different 'organisms' each contribute their part to the ecology. From my--not particularly expert--view teenagers aren't specifically the ones who blow things up, they're more like the mooks who act as megaphones for the general drama. There's another clade of user who do the actual stirring up of drama and they largely seem to be not especially successful members of some creative field like acting, stand-up, art, etc. Definitely careers that attract personality types who highly value approval/adulation.

There's another clade of credentialed or 'pedigreed' professionals, such as activist or non-profit people, 'community management' people, professors, journalists, etc. who seem to have some function in legitimizing and mainstreaming the drama of the day, possibly creating rationalizations for why it's good along the way.

I'm sure Twitter, internally, is already aware of these dynamics. But it would probably help the sociology of it out a lot if that information was more well known.