This month, the Library of Congress formally announced a plan to digitally store every single tweet ever twittered. Due to it’s use as a news reporting tool and event record, a twitter archive could serve as an fantastic resource for future generations to look back to us and study our social culture.

Twitter processes more than 50 million tweets per day. The Library will receive all public tweets-which number in the billions-from the 2006 inception of the service to the present.

“The Twitter digital archive has extraordinary potential for research into our contemporary way of life,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.

A committee of respected educators, historical and journalistic academics have all agreed that the tweets of today could provide unparalleled knowledge of dietary practices, linguistic trends, gender roles and other information as a great source for the study of humankind.

Up till now, most historical documentation that we have to assess our ancestors has been gathered from historical accounts written by the conquerors, the oppressors and the elite ruling classes.The Library of Congress initiative could turn this on its head and provide the common man or woman a historical voice.

The announcement came coincidentally on the same day the Library’s own Twitter feed (@librarycongress) crossed 50,000 followers (April 14, 2010).

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