Are your tweets and Facebook postings works of art? Backupify can help you preserve them forever so your kids and grandkids have a permanent record of what you ate for breakfast every day and your reviews of local cupcake shops.

When I first heard about this tool, I thought it was a nutty idea. Why would you need to keep a copy of your Facebook posts? And who wants to keep all the old tweets?

But some high-profile hacks in 2012 brought all kinds of important questions into play. If Facebook fails, what happens to all the awesome photo albums you’ve created? And how can you get back all your Gmail contacts if the service blows up one day?

Preserving your online data from services such as Gmail, Flickr, Basecamp and social networks can protect you from hackers, prevent loss of valuable data and perhaps keep you in compliance if you are required to keep records of your online data for legal reasons. When you put it like that, backing up your online stuff makes more sense.

You could also try SocialSafe, a newer company with fewer integrations. Instead of backing up your information to the cloud like Backupify does, SocialSafe stores the backups on your own computer. The price difference is major: SocialSafe starts at $6.99/year for up to four services, while you’ll pay $4.99/month for up to five with Backupify.