Starting Jan. 1, the Library of Congress will change its policy from collecting every tweet to saving ones on a select and more scrutinizing basis.
With the new guidelines, the Library announced in a press release Tuesday, "the tweets collected and archived will be thematic and event-based, including events such as elections, or themes of ongoing national interest, e.g. public policy."
But the Library gave several reasons, including the "explosion in use," changes to terms and services, and modifications in functionality for why the agreement with Twitter was being altered. The Library says it will continue to preserve and secure its collection of tweet text, and work with Twitter to acquire tweets selectively.
The nation's oldest federal cultural institution has digitally stored every public post shared on Twitter since the social media platform's inception in 2006. There are an average 200 billion tweets sent each year, according to tracking site Internet Live Stats.
