I don't know about you but I did not find the Israeli government's Twitter press conference particularly winning.

There is something downright creepy about the juxtaposition of mass civilian casualties in Gaza and Israeli officials' demonstrated fluency in cutesy text message jargon.

To the short but crucial question from "peoplesworld": "40 years of military confrontation hasn’t brought security to Israel, why is this different?" The Israeli consulate replied: " We hav 2 prtct R ctzens 2, only way fwd through neogtiations, & left Gaza in 05. y Hamas launch missiles not peace?"

Hype about the "first ever" Twitter press conference gave Israel a boost in the mainstream media, as Megan Garber observes in CJR.

But the use of Twitter for propaganda purposes didn't sit as well with Twitter bloggers. Small wonder. The messages were short, but the content of the press conference was practically nonexistent.

"Considering that those in power, given a choice, would generally opt to say as little as possible during press conferences, should we really be extolling a platform that not only discourages, but prevents, lengthy answers?" Garber asks.

I would add that a nation at war that sounds like a high school girl texting trite tidbits on her cell phone is not much of an improvement over men in suits who stand behind lecterns and say nothing at great length.

Propaganda is all about narrowing discussion to a few simple points. Twitter, it turns out, is a great tool for that purpose.

And, as Phyllis Bennis points out in a video clip on The Real News, your analysis of the conflict in Gaza depends, crucially, on how far back you go. Do you start with the rocket attacks? Or do you take into account the blockade, which stopped food and medical supplies from crossing the border even during the cease-fire? Or do you go all the way back to 1967? A longer conversation on the current conflict will inevitably get there.

But there is something more discouraging, almost existentially depressing, about the reduction to tweeting of government propaganda, particularly where the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is concerned. It leads so quickly and directly to the hardened, summary positions. The quickie summary is the enemy of negotiation, peace, and of the kind of creative thought that could get people out of their endlessly repeated, knee-jerk habits of mind.

Instead of more information, thoughtful discussion, and an effort to see things from another's point of view, we get slogans, bumper stickers and talking points.

In wartime, Twitter is a great tool for witnesses to report facts and events as they occur, or to flag links to longer bits of analysis. But as far as getting information from the government, give me an old fashioned townhall meeting, in person or online, where people have a chance to ask follow-up questions and try to pin down the propagandists.