Twitter | Twitter On Tap At CWA

Non-sentences like the 123-character, symbol-filled statement above have become commonplace in the realm of digital communications.

In "All a-Twitter: The Fleeting Nature of Digital Communications," an afternoon panel today at the Conference on World Affairs, a digital entrepreneur, sociology professor, tech columnist and an Institute for Policy Studies fellow will tackle the topic of Twitter and how the pervasive rise of the "140 characters or less" social network could further affect society.

"Twitter is sort of like that documentary series where they revisit the same group of kids every seven years ... in that we seem to keep talking about it every year or so, and that's OK," said Andy Ihnatko, tech columnist and panelist. "How we relate to Twitter today is different than maybe the last year or the year before."

Two years ago, Ihnatko said, some felt that short-form tweets were endemic of an intellectual dilution caused by the Internet. Those attitudes melded into an "isn't this neat?" approach in micro-social behavior, he added.

"And I think this year is (about) how useful Twitter has become just as a vector to links -- to other information," he said.

Ihnatko, who has nearly 60,000 followers on Twitter, has witnessed the power of a tweet and how one post on a Twitter site can lead tens of thousands of people directly to an article he's written or content he's created.

While Ihnatko appreciates the positives of the site and what Twitter means to digital media, he also is aware of the limitations. The character limit is very constrictive.

"It not only limits how well you can express yourself, it's also necessary to beware of the compromises you're making in clarity," he said.

Ross Haenfler, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Mississippi, said he appreciates the variety of avenues that have opened up digitally. But Haenfler, who works closely on the studies of youth cultures and subcultures, can see the dualities of this type of communication.

On one hand, digital communications can help build and strengthen communities, he said. On the other, access to more information than ever requires more critical approaches.

"The work I try to do with my students is how we have a lot more media but very little media literacy," he said. " ... Everything is amplified. How do we decode the sources of the information."

This could be particularly troubling when it comes to political issues, he said, adding he's heard his students frame debates on an issue in the same -- and, oftentimes, factually untrue -- talking points used by pundits.

"That's where I find it most alarming," he said.

Contact Camera Business Writer Alicia Wallace at 303-473-1332 or wallacea@dailycamera.com .