Today, I learned something surprising. Twitter, the purportedly new microblogging service, has been around for thousands of years. The digital archeologists behind Historical Tweets are slowly unearthing relevant 140-character messages from the past and revealing them via their blog for posterity. (See above tweet from Abraham Lincoln.)
So, this form of social media is actually a bit ancient. Since humans have been tweeting for generations, it makes sense that many 21st-century technologists have adopted the practice so readily.
I wonder what the first-ever tweet was. (If you have some inkling about the tweet which started it all, please leave a comment. I'll post the ideas and link to your blog if you do.)
Mined from a tweet by CrossTheBreeze.
UPDATE: Two bloggers so far have submitted possibilities for the "first-ever tweet." They are:
1. "Hello, world" — Leah
2. "Got fire?" — Tumblewords
First Digital Tweet: "Hello World"
Posted by: Leah | January 24, 2009 at 02:30 PM
Leah — LOL! You've piqued my curiosity: Who said it?
Posted by: KG | January 24, 2009 at 07:18 PM
Got fire?
Posted by: Tumblewords | January 27, 2009 at 01:27 AM
Tumblewords — Yes! I think that one followed soon after the above "Hello World". Who said yours?
Posted by: KG | January 27, 2009 at 03:32 PM
"Hello World" = geek joke. It is the first thing your computer says to you in tutorials for many programming languages.
First tweet: These apples are delicious.
Posted by: me da | March 19, 2009 at 02:24 PM
me da — Thanks for the explanation on "Hello World." I stand enlightened.
And good first tweet on your part! Now get a blog so I can link back to you, OK? ;-)
Posted by: KG | March 26, 2009 at 01:37 AM