These days we zip text documents and photos and videos and fling them across the country in seconds without a thought. We can compress our TV so we can watch it on our mobile phones, using tools such as Sling Media.

And, of course, there’s Twitter. This ever-present microblogging tool forces us to compress our thoughts and experiences into 140 characters. In this realm, we no longer think big; we think small. But that might not be a bad thing.

The compression of words is forcing communicators to capture big ideas and share them in a persuasive flash that captures attention immediately. As Strunk and White emphasized, being concise can be good.

Some say this boiling down of words into characters will lead to the written word’s decline. We’re held captive by text-speak and tweeting, the argument goes. Those sentiments might be overblown. A Bookforum review by Clive Thompson (you must register on the site to view it) of Naomi Baron’s book Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World highlights the fact that the grammar of texting and instant messaging isn’t much worse than more formal writing, but it does come closer to a conversational tone.

One of our new challenges as professional communicators is creating online conversations that are engaging, meaningful and brand-building. We must learn the art of compressing messages into eye-grabbing, digestible bits to influence the influencers. (Check out this Web Ecology Project report analyzing Twitter’s influence. One nugget: Mashable is more influential than CNN on Twitter.)

Indeed, the constricting of messages opens up new opportunities. As we are forced to squeeze big ideas into micro-chunks, we can hone key messages that help bigger concepts knife through the clutter. This focus on the infinitesimal could help reshape a company’s message, reputation and fortune. Sometimes big things come in small packages.