Library of Congress Blog

Tweets can now be longer, too: This fall, Twitter rolled out 280-character tweets to most users across the platform. As of January 1, the library will only acquire tweets "on a very selective basis".

"The Library continuously reviews its ongoing acquisitions, whether subscriptions to newspapers or the receipt of tweets via a gift", the Library proclaimed.

In the latest statement, the Library said it made a decision to change its approach of storing tweets based on several reasons, including the dramatic growth of traffic on Twitter.

Since 2010, Library of Congress has been archiving every single public tweet: Yours, ours, the president's.

The library doesn't say how many tweets it has in its collection now, but in 2013, it said it had already amassed 170 billion tweets, at a rate of half a billion tweets a day. "In 40 years, I want to take my granddaughter to the Library of Congress and show her the madness I dealt with as a journalist...make every tweet count".

This move marks the ending of an ambitious effort that began in 2010 when the social media donated its archive of public tweets to the Library of Congress.

Now that it has 12 years of tweets in the collection, the library suggested that it had largely fulfilled its original goal of documenting the rise and evolution of Twitter. But it's also a matter of being able to actually preserve content. Tweets now embed pictures, videos, and previews of the content of any links they contain.

A statement said the library from 2018 "will continue to acquire tweets but will do so on a very selective basis" adding that the collection will likely be "thematic and event- based, including events such as elections, or themes of ongoing national interest, e.g. public policy".

The LOC did not offer specific details regarding the selection of the tweets for the archive moving forward.

The entire Twitter archive is not allowed for public access and will remain until embargo "until access issues can be resolved in a cost-effective and sustainable manner". "There is no projected timetable for providing public access at this time". For instance, President Trump's tweets are nearly certainly still going to be saved for future generations.

"The Twitter Archive may prove to be one of this generation's most significant legacies", the library said in a document detailing the decision.

It also wrote: "Throughout its history, the Library has seized opportunities to collect snapshots of unique moments in human history and preserve them for future generations". "Future generations will learn much about this rich period in our history, the information flows, and social and political forces that help define the current generation".