It’s official: Twitter is now a cradle-to-grave social network. On Feb. 20, 2013, Houston’s Hermann Memorial Hospital tweeted a live cesarean section delivery—the graphic pictures and video clips accompanied by warnings that the content might not be suitable for everyone. “It’s fascinating to pull back the curtain on the mystery of the OR,” says the hospital’s social media manager Natalie Camarata. “They can see every piece…these step-by-step processes that are something that happen every day. It really demystifies it.” Meanwhile, a new service called LivesOn promises to continue tweeting for you long after you’re dead—analyzing what you tend to tweet about (and your 140-character syntax) to continue your online correspondence. Dave Bedwood, LivesOn creator, says interested parties must use the service before they die and entrust their account to a survivor who will decide whether the Twitter feed should continue. “We aren’t (as some people thought) bringing people back from the dead and posting their tweets.” Bedwood says. “We need living people to make this work as they have to help train and grow their LivesOn account.” (ABC News, New York Daily News)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and two children. Follow him on Twitter.