Twitter Advanced Search.

...only goes back 1 week?!

[ronin]

Eh?

I know it's a real-time micro-blog and I know that real-time means 'stuff that is happening now'.

But if I search twitter, I don't just want to see realtime posts from now... I might want to see realtime posts from one year ago.

Is it an issue of server load?

[rogerd]

Twitter does have a cutoff for tweet retention, and there are actually services that will back up your tweets (if you think they are worth saving).

[ronin]

there are [..] services that will back up your tweets

Yes, I know, I use one. But if there isn't a comprehensive archive (is archive.org keeping one?) then surely this is a serious oversight?

What if a journalist or academic (or anyone else for that matter) wants to look at the twitter stream one night before the 2008 US Presidential election. Is that data gone forever?

[ronin]

Any Twitter maestros out there?