Finally. Twitter has gotten rid of deleted tweets from its search index. Before doing so, tweets you delete from your Twitter profile were still available by accessing this residual index. Interestingly enough, Twitter already has a hard enough time providing search results both directly and through third party applications beyond a certain time frame. So the issue of deleted tweets may not have seemed like a very big deal.

Now that Twitter has grown to become such a large site, this twilight access to deleted tweets was a frustrating byproduct of the microblogging site. It’s a topic I have discussed in a larger sense, regarding major cultural changes being catalyzed by modern social networking.

On my personal blog I liken Twitter and its deleted tweets issue to early American colonialism, where shared information about a community member could ultimately affect their behavior. Knowing that a tweet deleted from Twitter could still be accessed may make Twitter users think twice about what they tweet. At the very least, it could encourage Twitter users to put a great deal more thought and effort into updates posted on their Twitter profile. The privacy settings around Twitter features and its subsequent public format for sharing tweets limits Twitter’s ability to avoid related complaints.

Twitter has been layering in a good amount of functionality around its microblogging platform in the past year, offering options that were only available through third party sites or were not available through Twitter at all. The sad irony of this relationship between users and third party developers is how it has all played out for deleted tweets. In this case, third party apps could do little to one-up Twitter, unless you consider the ability to access deleted tweets a benefit that Twitter couldn’t offer.

Nevertheless, Twitter’s update regarding the treatment of deleted tweets means that tweets are actually deleted, once and for all. For most, the privacy concerns surrounding deleted tweets have been rectified with Twitter’s recent update. What this means for the ongoing evolution of microblogging and the culture of social networking is yet to be determined, but it’s ultimately a step in the right direction.