Social Media Armageddon?

Last week, some unlucky Twitter users found their tweets missing. On June 11, an old SDSU classmate and fellow tweeter Ben Lippert was routinely checking his Twitter account, only to discover that well over 1,000 of his tweets have disappeared. This was a problem many Twitter users discovered last week. The mystery of missing tweets and following posts of discontent made me wonder, "What really would happen if social media sites crashed...permanently?"

Think about it. What would your life be like if you went to your computer or phone to find all your favorite accounts deleted? What if these sites didn't even exist anymore? All the conversations, photos, status updates, content, videos and connections with everyone from our family and friends to people we haven't even actually met in person are gone. To be blunt, it would really suck. For one thing, I would be out of a job. I think of the people I would lose contact with, the memories archived by photos lost, and all the time I spent creating these online presences.

I know I would survive, but it wouldn't be pretty. I am willing to admit I have become a technology and social media addict over the past few years. I spent this last weekend in a town in Nebraska that had little to no cell phone service. I could get text messages out at times, but most of the time lacked mobile internet, and felt like an addict looking for one more hit to get through the weekend. I was missing out on the conversation! I realize not everyone is as dependent on social media as I am, but most users would find some discomfort if one day it was gone. Over half of Facebook users (around 200 million) check their profile daily, so the average social media user would find their daily routine disturbed.

What would you do? Would you barely notice, or would the void drive you to the point of near insanity? Would you lose contact with most of the people you know on these sites, or go back to the "old days" of phone calls, e-mail and face-to-face interaction? Do you think we as a society can even go back to a world where social media didn't exist?

Update on the missing tweets: Twitter Support is working to fix the problem and get everyone's tweets back. Huzzah!