17 ridiculous #firsttweets to celebrate Twitter turning 8

Lena Dunham and Louis C.K. crack Jokes, Ted Cruz and Paul Ryan are confused and Michelle Rhee resigns

Published March 20, 2014 3:04PM (EDT)

Lena Dunham, Glenn Beck, Louie C.K.              (Reuters/Andrew Kelly/AP/Andy Kropa/Reuters/Gus Ruelas)
Lena Dunham, Glenn Beck, Louie C.K. (Reuters/Andrew Kelly/AP/Andy Kropa/Reuters/Gus Ruelas)

Twitter is turning 8 this year, and to celebrate it is dragging up the past -- our own Twitter past -- showing the #firsttweet users ever sent. With this tool from Twitter, you can enter anyone's Twitter handle and have a good giggle at the first 140 characters or less sent. Oh how Twitter timelines fly.

Here are some of the better first tweets sent out by comedians, actors, politicians and even parody accounts:

Bill Nye may be a brilliant scientist, but in 2009 he may not have understood Twitter:

[embedtweet id="1713467195"]

Vaccine truther Jenny McCarthy doesn't understand science, and only has a slightly better grasp of Twitter:

[embedtweet id="1685385553"]

Speaking of Oprah, she began with an enthusiastic all-caps tweet:

[embedtweet id="1542224596"]

Former congressman Anthony Weiner's career and personal life unraveled due to Twitter. But this tweet is still back from the pre-dick-pic days:

[embedtweet id="5150739271"]

Congressman Paul Ryan and Sen. Ted Cruz were confused by the new technology:

[embedtweet id="1178068449"]

[embedtweet id="1333788202"]

Some politicians used it to make campaign announcements:

[embedtweet id="62986842877865984"]

Other tweets mark resignations:

[embedtweet id="27252335115"]

It was, of course, comedians (and people who actually have personality) who adapted best to the new medium:

[embedtweet id="13203571270"]

[embedtweet id="1313093853"]

[embedtweet id="1999842552"]

[embedtweet id="3156025641"]

[embedtweet id="1256268006"]

[embedtweet id="925035720"]

And of course we can't forget about parody accounts:

[embedtweet id="256557546301702144"]

[embedtweet id="380359254932066304"]

And speaking of space, here's our favorite astronaut on Twitter:

[embedtweet id="22835801467"]


By Sarah Gray

Sarah Gray is an assistant editor at Salon, focusing on innovation. Follow @sarahhhgray or email sgray@salon.com.

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Related Topics ------------------------------------------

First Tweets Glenn Beck Lena Duhnam Louis Ck Paul Ryan Technology Innovation Ted Cruz Twitter