It was recently announced that the Library of Congress will begin archiving all messages sent through Twitter. This is good news for tweeters like Shaq or NOT Pat Fiacco, whose tweet skills will be preserved for years to come.
At the end of the New York Times article on the matter, there’s an interesting suggestion:
Knowing that the Library of Congress will be preserving Twitter messages for posterity could subtly alter the habits of some users, said Paul Saffo, a visiting scholar at Stanford who specializes in technology’s effect on society.
What do the tweeters of Twitter have to say about this development? Here’s a selection of responses, with links removed:
Vanessa_Carlson: The Library of Congress thinks that I am so interesting, that they are archiving my tweets!
sajendra: Future generations will now know when I tweet about my bathroom habits
stereohasmono: Not too happy about my tweets being archived by the Library of Congress. We have no privacy anymore. :(
tallhomeyvita: Library of Congress to archive your tweets – it’s a wrap…big brother is watchin everything u say!!!
_misserablebee: eat shit, library of congress. you’re a bunch of tweet thieves.
Knowing that their tweets will be available to future generations isn’t going to elevate the dialogue happening on Twitter, especially as long as you can tweet from your phone, a lesson I learn every time I have a drink and decide to start commenting on George Wendt’s post-Cheers career.