I think you're conflating several different purposes of citations. A thorough literature search is mostly needed to avoid claiming as novel innovations/discove

I think you're conflating several different purposes of citations. A thorough literature search is mostly needed to avoid claiming as novel innovations/discoveries things that others have previously published (even if you more-or-less ended up discovering it independently). Secondarily, it also helps you avoid ratholes that others have stumbled into (although the reduced incentives for publishing negative results makes this less effective). However, citations of papers encountered on — and recalled from — social media are more likely to be for the inspiration they provided for the line of inquiry or methodology in your paper (even if that inspiration was negative, ie. you're refuting someone's work or conclusions).