Tweet Hearts!

When it comes to getting your message across succinctly, there has been a 140-character-or-less alternative to Twitter for 145 years: Necco’s Sweethearts Conversation Candies!

That’s right, the sugary-sweet, pastel-colored Valentine’s Day specialty began delivering Twitter-ready messages long before Al Gore invented the internet. Well before Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, for that matter.

Which makes it even more fitting that, after the brand reached out online to fans for suggestions for 2010’s new phrases, “Text Me” was one of the most popular responses, but still a distant second to hands-down winner “Tweet Me.” The new phrase is one of 80 for this year’s Valentine’s Day push, according to the USA Today.

Past techno-Sweetheart phrases like “Fax Me” and “Email Me” now seem quaint and old-school, and one has to wonder what the future will serve up for our Valentine’s Day wishes. “Let’s Teleport?”