If the debate is well framed then better results can be obtained
If the right questions are asked, then a crowd can give better results. e.g. Christcurch earthquake, twitter users used the hashtag "mythbusters" to prove or not whether resources were available in a given area. For example someone would ask is there really a fresh water tank in district X, then those at the location could answer in the positive or negative and add credibility to their response using photos, video etc...