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First of all, I love your post. You make an excellent point about the "hive mind" present in the modern day, especially due to the saturation of social media and the internet available on every single device, every moment of every day. I wanted to address your main questions with my own answers/opinions and then make a final point, so here we go.

1. Can some good come out of this communal mind hive?
I believe the communal mind hive, as you put it, can be good and bad. I think social media is way too changing and malleable an animal to assign "good" or "bad" to it. As you said, #BlackLivesMatter and tweets from Aleppo were borne from social media, but so were a lot of hate groups gaining followers, and, the most annoying to me personally, political clickbait that is either improperly sourced or based on an author's opinion stated like fact. I think that in order to successfully navigate social media and not become too ensconced in the political brothel that is the world wide web nowadays, you must remember to fact-check everything that is important to you and filter, filter, filter. In relation to globalization, social media is mostly good; we have an awareness of other cultures, other news outlets besides our own local/national ones, and the ability to reach out to other cultures to support and engage them in a healthy and respectful way. This, like everything else on the internet, goes both ways, but I'll cautiously assign a "good" to social media re: globalization.

2. How should we engage with social media in this era of oversharing and over-opinionating?
I agree with you that sharing every moment of your life online is not particularly safe (or necessary). For this reason, I personally don't share much and I definitely don't post photos of my underage niece and nephews, etc. I think limited engagement is probably the best way to go about sharing on social media; again, it changes from person to person, the many-headed beast that is social media can be used by different people for different means, but sharing intensely personal problems with the world on Facebook, Twitter etc. is potentially inappropriate but also a symptom of our technologically advanced world. However, again, on the other hand, in relation to globalization it might be a sobering thing to share our woes online: the tweets from Aleppo alerted me personally to how bad the situation is in Syria, tweets from France alerted me to the most recent terrorist attacks, and Facebook suggests international news that might interest me. The good and the bad are mixed, as always.

3. Can our thoughts ever be our own when we are constantly being told what to think?
This goes back to what I said about fact-checking. I've learned the hard way that my peers online are too quick to read a headline and become experts on a subject, regardless of who wrote it, when, and for which publication. I google, wikipedia, etc. anything I see - I am, for example, not a Trump supporter, but when a claim is made online about his spending, his vacations, his misogyny, etc. I have googled other sources and fact-checked media claims so I know I'm not bias. I feel like this practice is unfortunately not standard for all social-media users, but I encourage everyone to do so and I hope that movement gains power as more and more people realize that BuzzFeed News may not be the most reliable source for information.

I just wanted to add that I didn't think the Women's March was exclusive at all, nor was it pointless. Many men attended the march and supported the aims, and as for pointlessness ... I shared a social media post about this, because on Facebook the live feed of the march had people commenting saying things like "get back in the kitchen," and that, my friend, is why we need to march - ALL of us, not just women.

Thanks for an interesting post and a great one to reply to!

I've avoided social media ever since I can remember. For a sophomore in college it should be something I'm happy about and not something I stay away from. At least that's what my friends tell me. I'm quite disappointed that this seems to be the most prevalent way of communicating and sharing your passions. What surprises me is the shift social media took with regard to its function. Instead of keeping in touch with people you rarely see, you "keep in touch" with people you don't even know.
Seeing people stress about how many likes they'll receive and watching their endless attempts to take the perfect selfie is alien to me, something I never understood. The posts that are being "liked" concern me. Pictures of teenagers with barely any clothes on, drunken parties, excessive spending and making fun of people are only a few that make the list of "top likes". People competing who will ruin their liver faster seems to be more popular than sharing awareness for important causes (for example animal cruelty, violence).
It seems social media is designed to control us, to make us oblivious to the real problems that need discussion. Writer Matt Haig makes a good point, saying: "How do you get [people] to watch a TV show? By making them worry about missing out. How do you get them to buy a new smartphone? By making them feel like they are being left behind." It's the same with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat. In a world where everyone is obsessed with posting their daily lives, you can easily feel like an outcast for not doing so.
While I'm proud of not using social media, many people tried to make me feel otherwise. And that is probably the most disappointing thing: being considered boring because you choose not to display your daily life routine to people who are not interested in what you do or what you are passionate about, but are just curious. There is no better way to disconnect people than by making them feel like they are connected to the world, which, in this case, is an abstract one anyway.