The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 8 letter word TEXT MESSAGES
T
E
X
T
M
E
S
S
A
G
E
S
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "very short bursts of information" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case very short bursts of information = text messages.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.