Twitter will reportedly unveil a new tweet downloading feature by the end of the year, according to Geekosystem. If you’ve ever been terrified that a server crash will result in the loss of your entire Twitter history, then this feature should make you the happiest resident in the Twitterverse. Assuming, of course, that you have anything on your Twitter page worth saving.
PC Magazine explains that the news arrived shortly after the discovery by two University of Virginia researchers that a large chunk of information disappears from Twitter after two years. Given the amount of information that is pumped into Twitter every single second, storing every bit of data for eternity seems a little far fetched. However, the news understandably disturbed some users, many of whom have documented important events in their lives through the micro-blogging website.
According to TechCrunch, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo revealed the company’s plan to implement a tweet-downloading feature at the Online News Association conference in San Francisco. However, Costolo did indicate this timetable was based upon the engineers’ capacity, so there’s always the chance it could get delayed until next year.
Although downloading your tweets may sound like a great feature, it probably doesn’t mean much to users who have been archiving their posts using third-party apps. However, given the company’s recent limitations on the use of third-party clients, the ability to download tweets using services other than Twitter may be on its way out. While some have been vocal about their disappoint with these new regulations, Twitter claims developers were given fair warning months ago.
“Nearly eighteen months ago, we gave developers guidance that they should not build client apps that mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience,” Michael Sippey explained. “And to reiterate what I wrote in my last post, that guidance continues to apply today.”
Are you excited about the ability to download your tweets?
