Twitter has been around since 2006 — long enough that the first tweets about anything (or anyone) can be revealing, interesting, or just weird. Who Tweeted It First lets you look up the very first time that any word or phrase was used on Twitter.
This tool lets you find the first-ever tweets about Obama, Taylor Swift, and anything else
Libby Nelson was Vox’s editorial director, politics and policy, leading coverage of how government action and inaction shape American life. Libby has more than a decade of policy journalism experience, including at Inside Higher Ed and Politico. She joined Vox in 2014.
So now we know the first tweet about Barack Obama was about a speech he gave in Miami in 2006:
Off to the Miami Book Fair and then to see B. Obama talk
— Alex de Carvalho (@alexdc) November 18, 2006 The first tweet about George W. Bush was really about Jon Stewart:
why does george w bush sound like john stewart pretending to be george w bush?
— Ian McKellar (@ian) June 20, 2006 The first tweet about Taylor Swift now seems like it comes from another universe:
CMT Awards: How cute was Taylor Swift as she accepted her award tonight? What a sweet moment...
— Winnie Jordan (@WinnieJordan) April 17, 2007 Uber was still just an adjective:
Wondering y Tony showed no appreciation for the leg songs rememberance. Just picked up new glasses. They're uber spiffy. Totally glam.
— Kati (@kati) July 8, 2006 And the iPhone didn’t exist:
Had a dream last night that Steve Jobs gave me a demo of the iPhone and the ringtones were all hyphy. Hrm.
— Jack (@jack) September 26, 2006 You can find the first tweets about whatever you want at Who Tweeted It First. (Hat tip to the Wall Street Journal’s Sarah Marshall.)
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