Library of Congress is recording every tweet on the PUBLIC timeline ever.

Read the article. It said PUBLIC timeline. Now if you don't Twitter, that isn't going to mean much to you. If you do Twitter it probably does. lol A lot. Now I am not going to split hairs with the language but I do know I got an 'A' in comprehension. It said PUBLIC timeline. Now of course, this doesn't mean that those behind the press release could not have misspoken. We are about to find out though 'cause you KNOW there will be an uproar with the NUMBER ONE QUESTION BEING:

Does this include 'locked accounts'?



I don't know personally so don't ask me. I know I can read though. That's all I know. I ain't Hov, I just know what I know- Young Chris. I will give you a hint though...


Per the Twitter guidelines....


"Who reads my updates?

It's up to you. Your followers read your updates, and anyone else who comes across them in a search. Your Twitter profile is PUBLIC by default; if you're hesitant to have strangers read your updates, protect your profile to approve followers and keep your updates out of search. "

Now again, I am not the World's smartest guy nor do I know everything but that paragraph speaks to the meaning of the word PUBLIC as it relates to Twitter. One can assume (or not) that if the same meaning of PUBLIC stands all the way across the board when we are talking about Twitter....Get what I am saying? Now if you have a PUBLIC ACCOUNT or your account was PUBLIC at anytime, those things said during that time period WILL DEFINITELY be included in The Library of Congress....

Do bear in mind that all tweets are recorded on the Internet ANYWAY in some way, shape, form or fashion so this little 'announcement' shouldn't really be deterring you from doing what it is you do. As it was already all being recorded ANYWAY. Alas, there will be a little bit of a panic swell in the ranks. Cats circling the wagons. Now we will have to endure another ten to a hundred newscasters both nationally and locally, giving out the 'dangers' of posting, all the while they continue to put government names out of people who do stuff or have been alleged to have done it. Showing up at their houses, camera in hand, showing where they live. It is all out there. Sorry to disappoint you if you thought it wasn't.

That is the funny thing about information to me. I know and have come to grips with the fact that we are all human. We all mess up. I don't wanna list too many cliches but the ole 'we all have skeletons' thing if you will. Some of you clearly have not though 'cause you are just ITCHING TO GET YOUR SKELETON FIX. This will be GREAT NEWS FOR YOU. You will be able to find out what that gal who took your man back in the 7th grade, who won't accept your follow on Twitter is talking about. Or to find about that celeb who has enough sense to at least lock their tweets in a much easier way. Hopefully.


Oh boy, the fun we will have 'speculating' JUST WHAT THAT IS GOING TO MEAN. Twitter is going to announce it later on their blog and you KNOW just for shits and giggles, they are gonna let shit linger. TO GET MORE PRESS. They will eventually clear it up though I am sure. One way or the other.

I would give out a warning but with 'groupies' getting love for 'exposing' married affairs, kids getting props for beating up other kids into comas, rappers getting shine for being 'tough', FAUX NEWS still having listeners and all the other bullshit, I am sure my warning will fall on death ears. Besides, we are all human right? Oh that is right, that ole saying only comes into play as long as people aren't 'acting human' around you. My bad. Clown it up and read the article people. Have fun and happy high horsing.


Link:
How Tweet It Is!: Library Acquires Entire Twitter Archive

April 14th, 2010 by Matt Raymond

twitter_logoHave you ever sent out a “tweet” on the popular Twitter social media service? Congratulations: Your 140 characters or less will now be housed in the Library of Congress.

That’s right. Every public tweet, ever, since Twitter’s inception in March 2006, will be archived digitally at the Library of Congress. That’s a LOT of tweets, by the way: Twitter processes more than 50 million tweets every day, with the total numbering in the billions.

We thought it fitting to give the initial heads-up to the Twitter community itself via our own feed @librarycongress. (By the way, out of sheer coincidence, the announcement comes on the same day our own number of feed-followers has surpassed 50,000. I love serendipity!)

We will also be putting out a press release later with even more details and quotes. Expect to see an emphasis on the scholarly and research implications of the acquisition. I’m no Ph.D., but it boggles my mind to think what we might be able to learn about ourselves and the world around us from this wealth of data. And I’m certain we’ll learn things that none of us now can even possibly conceive.

Just a few examples of important tweets in the past few years include the first-ever tweet from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey (http://twitter.com/jack/status/20), President Obama’s tweet about winning the 2008 election (http://twitter.com/barackobama/status/992176676), and a set of two tweets from a photojournalist who was arrested in Egypt and then freed because of a series of events set into motion by his use of Twitter (http://twitter.com/jamesbuck/status/786571964) and (http://twitter.com/jamesbuck/status/787167620).

Twitter plans to make its own announcement today on its blog from “Chirp,” the Official Twitter Developer Conference, in San Francisco.

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 websites in 2000. Today we hold more than 167 terabytes of web-based information, including legal blogs, websites of candidates for national office, and websites of Members of Congress.

We also operate the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program www.digitalpreservation.gov, which is pursuing a national strategy to collect, preserve and make available significant digital content, especially information that is created in digital form only, for current and future generations.

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!

(Thanks to my co-blogger, Jennifer, for the headline. She always does a much better job of that than I do!)