Tweets Will Be Archived

The Library of Congress has announced plans to archive every single public message to appear on the micro-blogging service Twitter. It will record all 140-character tweets dating back to the service's birth, from Obama's response to winning the Nobel Peace Prize to women announcing their miscarriages. The Library certainly has its work cut out for itself: Twitter generates more than 50 million tweets a day. The move is an attempt to push the Library’s relevance in the digital age: "So if you think the Library of Congress is ‘just books,’ think of this: The Library has been collecting materials from the Web since it began harvesting congressional and presidential campaign Web sites in 2000. Today we hold more than 167 terabytes of Web-based information, including legal blogs, Web sites of candidates for national office, and Web sites of Members of Congress...In other words, if you’re looking for a place where important historical and other information in digital form should be preserved for the long haul, we’re it!"