Since the inception of social media, concerns have existed regarding the levels of safety and privacy of the platforms. These concerns have been especially strong on platforms like Twitter, where questions continue to arise about the fate of user data. As a result, many users are now considering what should happen to their past interactions on the platform. While many users have insisted that it’s best to clear tweets from the platform, others think otherwise.
In 2010, the Library of Congress began collecting and archiving every tweet published on Twitter, including all previous posts. However, the practice sparked ongoing debate. While some people support the preservation of tweets for historical and cultural purposes, others strongly disagree. Many users remain undecided about whether tweets should be preserved or deleted. This article explores both perspectives in detail.
Why Should We Save Tweets? All the Reasons Why It Is Essential To Retain Posts on Twitter
A significant number of Twitter users believe it’s acceptable to store their posts. This belief often stems from the idea that some tweets may hold future relevance. Others support preservation because they want to keep a record of their thoughts and experiences for posterity. Beyond these reasons, there are several additional benefits to saving the tweets you share on the platform. Let’s take a closer look.
Tweets Contain Historically-Relevant Information
Many posts on the social media platform contain interactions and information that are quite relevant on a historical front. These tweets, which are majorly records of events and occurrences, indicate the same happenings and the times they occurred. Preserving those tweets is one of the most effective ways to ensure that information remains available for future reference.
For instance, a NASA scientist, TJ Creamer, made the first tweet from space on January 22, 2010. This is an event that should remain preserved for history’s sake. Also, the world heard the news about the presence of ice on Mars through a tweet from the mission’s account. In such cases, tweet preservation has protected the information transmitted in real-time following the events.
Why Preserving Tweets Matters: Access Your Old Posts With Context
Many old tweets still generate strong reactions when they resurface under certain circumstances. For example, screenshots of older tweets taken out of context can be misleading, especially if the original post is no longer available. Preserving tweets helps prevent this issue by allowing viewers to see the replies, conversations, and full context surrounding the post. After all, screenshots rarely tell the complete story.
Someone can take a single statement from an entire conversation to push a narrative. In similar situations, only the full versions of those discussions prevent their misappropriation.
Tweets Are Useful for Storing Public Permanent Records
Many public officials use Twitter to share information and communicate with the public. Preserving posts on the platform therefore becomes a way of preserving public records. Announcements, events, reports, and community outreach updates are often released through tweets. While some of these records remain permanently relevant, others become outdated over time.
Public officials also rely on Twitter to launch policies, programs, initiatives, and even new products. The platform is widely used for advertising, awareness campaigns, and marketing efforts by government representatives. Health agencies and personnel frequently share public health updates, safety information, and emergency response notices as well.
For these reasons, preserving tweets ensures that people can refer back to this information in the future – so long as the records remain accessible.
Tweet Preservation Boosts Levels of Transparency
Many conversations take place on Twitter, including discussions on controversial or sensitive topics. Because of this, users often delete their tweets. Tweet preservation makes it possible to access these posts even after they’ve been removed, which increases transparency on the platform.
This is especially important for conversations with historical relevance. Preservation allows people to review earlier discussions, precedents, and context that might otherwise be lost.
For these reasons, many advocate for preserving their digital footprint – particularly their tweets. As a result, the argument that tweet preservation is necessary continues to gain support.
Why Should We Delete Tweets? Why Is It Necessary to Trash the Digital Footprint
In 2017, the Library of Congress announced that it would no longer archive every tweet published on Twitter. Instead, it would preserve only tweets deemed historically or culturally significant. However, the library confirmed it would continue to maintain the full archive of tweets it collected from 2006 onward. Even before this announcement, critics of the preservation policy argued against the idea of archiving all tweets. Accordingly, there are several reasons why we should consider discarding tweets instead of storing them.
There Is So Much Noise on the Platform
Being one of the most popular social media platforms, Twitter has a lot of traffic and noise. According to recent statistics, more than 500 million tweets are published on the platform every day. This massive volume makes it extremely difficult for archival institutions to save every post. As a result, preserving all tweets is not currently feasible.
The sheer number of posts also shows that users share a significant amount of content that may not hold long-term value. This reduces the need to archive every tweet for future reference. For these reasons, the Library of Congress and other archival services choose to preserve only tweets that are considered important or historically significant.
Old Tweets Could Return To Haunt People if Not Dealt With
People’s ideas and opinions change as they grow. However, a tweet you made a decade ago remains as it was if it is untouched. For this reason, your old, outdated tweets could return to bash your career and your personality, even if it does not represent your current stance. Therefore, storing your tweets in the public domain may not be a good idea.
Similar occurrences have happened in the past. In 2019, American comedian and actor Kevin Hart lost the gig to host the Oscars after several old tweets resurfaced. These were tweets he made between July 2009 and January 2011, coming to affect his career. Well, this is one major reason people must bulk-delete their old tweets.
To Maintain the Focus on Crucial Public Discussions
Just as the Library of Congress eventually decided, focusing on tweets that contribute to public discussion is far more effective. This approach filters out the noise and highlights posts that are truly worth revisiting. People frequently share tweets about their private lives and personal matters, and these do not generally fall within the scope of public importance.
Therefore, it is more practical to preserve tweets from government agencies, public officials, and influential individuals – those that shape or spark public discourse. By narrowing the focus this way, institutions and archival services can operate more efficiently and manage their resources more effectively.
What Are the Tweet Preservation Platforms? Where Can We Find Old Archived Tweets?
There is much focus on the idea of tweet preservation. However, there are a few lapses in the focus on how to do this. At first, the Library of Congress was responsible for preserving all the tweets published on the platform. Going forward, it dropped the idea, announcing it’d only focus on the most important ones. Thus, there are a few questions regarding the platforms that store tweets and those where users can preserve their posts.
The Library of Congress Twitter Archive
Four years after Twitter launched, the Library of Congress announced that it would begin archiving all tweets. The institution collected the platform’s earliest posts and continued saving every tweet published thereafter. However, eight years later, the library reversed this decision and stated that it would move to a selective archiving model instead.
Originally, the Library of Congress explained that its intention was to preserve tweets as historical records, similar to other materials in its collection. At one point, it reported collecting more than 500 million tweets per day. Subsequently, the Library of Congress amassed over 170 billion Twitter posts.
The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine, an online archive of the Internet, preserves webpages across the web, including certain Twitter pages. This archive has been active since its launch in 1996. While it saves snapshots of websites, it typically captures only popular or frequently visited pages. In addition to its automated crawling, the Wayback Machine also allows users to manually save specific pages themselves.