Twitter now lets you search through every public tweet on the service and the change has got everyone looking right back to the beginning of the service, so we thought we’d dig a little deeper and find the first mention of people, words and other interesting terms on the service.
Notable people
Steve Jobs’ first mention was in 2006 when Dom Sagolla had a dream about the Apple co-founder. Twitter founder Jack Dorsey had a dream about him a few months later.
Last night I dreamt that Steve Jobs wanted to hire me as his 'personal blogger.' I had to think about it.
— Dom Sagolla (@dom) August 30, 2006
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
Someone had a dream about Bill gates that same year.
For once in my life I overslept. I dreamt I was taking a final for a class Id never attended & the prof was Bill Gates. I woke feeling I aced it. Nice!
— Jerome Haines (@jrome) October 27, 2006
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The first person tweeting about Steve Ballmer in 2007 wondered if he was going to sink his yacht for insurance money.
thinks Steve Ballmer is going to be sinking his yacht soon for the insurance money.
— Kevin Marvin (@kevincmarvin) January 9, 2007
Obama’s first appearance on the service was this person listening to his book.
listening to Barack Obama's new book while working in Flash
— Paul Mayne (@paulmayne) December 20, 2006
Nickleback first appeared in 2006 too (sorry).
nickelback is the next creed. saaame sound over and over.
— Jennifer Bullock (@Jenguin) September 22, 2006
Taylor Swift didn’t show up until 2007.
CMT Awards: How cute was Taylor Swift as she accepted her award tonight? What a sweet moment…
— Winnie Jordan (@WinnieJordan) April 17, 2007
Remember LOST?
man lost season 1 finale was disappointing, I have pop-sci-fi tv blue balls
— Nic (@Nic) May 22, 2006
Technology
When did ‘Twitter’ first appear on Twitter? Remember that the service was named Twttr at the time.
Having a twitter just now.
— Jeremy (@jeremy) March 22, 2006
The first appearance of ‘iPad’ was this person tweeting a comedy skit three years before the iPad launched and six months before the iPhone itself.
LOL – the apple iPad, http://tinyurl.com/28o3gf
— Pranav Chavda (@pranavchavda) March 24, 2007
The first tweet that actually talked about some sort of tablet called the iPad was also in 2007.
Ok, blogged my iPad Touch concept: http://tinyurl.com/25xrhm
— Chris Messina ? (@chrismessina) November 5, 2007
The first tweet about the iPhone was already featured earlier, too.
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
By the way, everyone was still using their BlackBerry phones in 2006.
changing status through my blackberry browser
— jack (@jack) March 22, 2006
How about Windows? The first tweet about Microsoft Windows was this one.
laughing at the backwards design of Mer's work laptop that only compounds the ineptitude of windows
— Dom Sagolla (@dom) May 19, 2006
Spotify appeared in 2007, too.
Listening to Spotify
— Andreas Ehn (@ehn) March 5, 2007
Uber’s first mention was its Head of Operations testing the service when it was called UberCab still.
Out and about testing @ubercab (@ John Collins w/ 2 others) http://4sq.com/4n8Qzr
— Ryan Graves (@ryangraves) March 6, 2010
The first time Reddit appeared on the service, someone was saying they preferred it to Digg.
I think I like reddit more than digg
— Jeremy (@jeremywc) November 16, 2006
Other words
Remember the fail whale? The first time that phrase was coined wasn’t until 2007.
Oh, fail whale, you are making my website fail. No more wordpress-twitter-crossposting.
— Jen Simmons (@jensimmons) September 2, 2007
Nobody said anything about selfies until 2007.
new selfie on flickr: http://tinyurl.com/yt3btf
yay :)— Gina Dwyer (@rockergina) March 19, 2007
Literally the first literally.
Laughing so hard at LadyRaptastic that I am literally crying at my desk.
— crystal (@crystal) June 20, 2006
Om nom nom nom.
Just ate my breakfast yogurt. Om nom nom nom.
— Julia (@juleshastweets) May 25, 2007
Nobody was a social media guru until mid-2007.
What is a social media guru ???
— Shamir Ramjan (@shamir) June 1, 2007
The word ‘feminist’ didn’t appear until late 2006.
Nick Hornby, Chuck P., Mitfords, Esmond Romilly, Wicked, Oz, Lost Girls, Raunch culture and feminist blogosphere, body image. Fun conversation!
— Liz Henry (@lizhenry) December 10, 2006
Kale hipsters appeared pretty early on.
what can i do with quinoa, kale and duck? suggestions please
— richard (@giantrat) October 29, 2006
Is this the first ever Twitter lie?
Oh my God! I've been shot!
— Mike Monteiro (@monteiro) November 15, 2006
The first tweet about The Next Web was someone coordinating a conference, but not ours.
coordinating the next web workgroup conference.
— Michael Hessling (@cherrypj) December 5, 2006
Swear words
The first ‘shit’, in 2006.
Oh shit, I just twittered a little.
— Jeremy (@jeremy) March 21, 2006
The first ‘fuck’ in 2006.
Damn Sarah and Tony, the pizza I'm eating tastes like shit. i bet I'll loose much weight soon not eating pizza and bagels. Fuck New York for being better cooks.
— Kati (@kati) May 4, 2006
The first ‘crap’ in 2006.
Oh crap, I think I might be getting that f'in cold
— noah glass (@noah) March 22, 2006
Have you found any cool ‘firsts’ on Twitter? Let us know in the comments.
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