170 Billion Tweets gathered by US Gov't!

Library of Congress is in the process of archiving 170 billion tweets from Twitter users who made public tweets according to an article on CNET.com.

Through some agreement struck in 2010, all public tweets since 2006 are going to be archived in the LOC!

As society turns to social media as a primary method of communication and creative expression

Personally, I'm not so sure society has turned, rather the methods of communications have grown much stronger and prevalent for all those with access to technology.

So if you've made public tweets, chances are you'll have a spot amongst the many in the annals of history in the Library of Congress!

Library of Congress digs in to full archive of 170 billion tweets

Update on the Twitter Archive at the Library of Congress

Perhaps so your decedents could look at what you tweeted.

That is just sad. Have we become so narcissistic that every little inane thing that falls from our brains should be archived? I can imagine nothing more mind numbing than reading tweets. Who in their right mind is going to utilize this trove? I suppose someone wishing to further the intellectual evolution of mankind could research and write a book about how many people said "I just ate 'fill in the blank' yum!"

"All your tweets are belong to us"

^^ LOL @ 'decedents'

"I'll give you my tweets when you pry them from my cold dead hands" (slant on NRA slogan)

Trove yes, what a study that could be.

@Iamschist --> I just ate some fruitcake, and it was pretty good actually!

Library of Congress it in the process of archiving 170 billion tweets from twitter users who made public tweets according to an article on CNET.com.

That has to be the most boring job ever.

I'm personally thrilled to hear this. I didn't take twitter as anything more serious than a place for people to really annoy each other with mundane garbage 90% of the time until early last year. The I discovered twitter is the new form of data feed and mini or quasi-official press release system preferred by everyone from local schools to weather services to the USGS and all levels of govt. Everyone seems to have a twitter feed and there's as much truly valuable and useful stuff as anything. (It's also a real easy and handy way to have openly usable data feeds of real interesting stuff on a website)

Twitter seems to be the new RSS or it's equivalent in many sectors, anyway. Who cares about the goober twittering about a good ham sandwich for lunch. lol... I want the other 75% of the traffic these days. What a fascinating archive that will make to look at for people generations into the future. Nothing before this has ever existed to snapshot a whole time period this way. S/F!

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Thank you Wrabbit - I do agree it is fascinating and like you I dismissed Twitter early on as just another ridiculous distraction but now am amazed.

I believe it came as a variant of SMS.

Jack Dorsey

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Most of this information is available in other forms, so it is a bit redundant, also I can foresee archaeologists of the future finding fragments. 'District 7 will have it's Teacher meetings on Friday October 10th' or 'Don't forget the annual pie contest/sale at Our Lady of Perceptual Sorrows', and being amazed as we are by inventory lists in early Hebrew.

Back in the days before recordings, music was played live. Or on a music box, etc. But it was never a verbatim copy.

When records first came around, a lot of people were of the opinion that Music is meant to be played live, this recording shenanigans will never take off, and if anything it will simply bring mundane and banal music to the masses. It will never be as glorious as live concerts.

And boy don't we pay a pretty penny for any recording from that era.

I know it won't be the same in 200 years when someone goes "Coh, look at this Bruce, a genuine tweet, still with the url attached."

But at least someone is thinking. as Wrabbit says, this is a new era. We're making footsteps and while we think the boots are big and we're capable of wearing them, they are but starters on this very long journey.

I think I may possibly be the only person my age without a Twitter account. Every female I know posts "Instagram" pictures of their pointless accessories and cups of coffee and blah bla bla bla
If Twitter was more like ATS, or had an ATS community I may consider but until then, i personally have never encountered a useful or knowledgeable "Tweet"

Originally posted by winofiend
Back in the days before recordings, music was played live. Or on a music box, etc. But it was never a verbatim copy.

Great insight - appreciate it winofiend. When the world is changed, I believe much may be lost, simply because the 'information/records' are in electronic form. In a new world, we may not have the tech or knowledge to retrieve the information.

Verbatim....interesting (to me) you mention that.

Computer data storage products:
Floppy disks
Magnetic tapes
MultiMediaCards
SD cards
CompactFlash cards
CD-R/CD-RW
DVD-R/DVD-RW/DVD-R DL
DVD+R/DVD+RW/DVD+R DL
DVD-RAM
BD-R/BD-RE
HD-DVD-R
USB flash drives
SIPRELAY Operators

Verbatim Corporation

Maybe the big data center in Utah will have a play in being 'keeper of records'.
Utah Data Center