Ruth Spencer and Brian Braiker 

Twitter’s sixth birthday: first tweets by the tweeters you know best

Remember when you first got Twitter and it was new and awkward and not like Facebook? Take a trip down memory lane with some of these first tweets, then send us yours!
  
  

Kanye West
Kanye West: master tweeter. Photograph: Lucas Jackson/Reuters Photograph: Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Six years ago today, the world was sent its first tweet. With just two words – and far shorter than the 140 character limit – Twitter founder Jack Dorsey was the first human to publicly tackle the microblogging platform's big question: "What are you doing?" His answer:

Pretty practical for a groundbreaking moment in web history.

So what were you were doing the first time you entered the Twittersphere?

If you can't recall, check out My First Tweet or Tweet#1 to jog your memory. Tweet us your first words using the hashtag #myfirsttweet and we'll retweet our favorites.

Feeling shy? Don't! Here are a few examples of notorious newborn tweets to get your # flowing:

Barack Obama, with more than 13 million followers, the president is far and away the most popular politician on Twitter:

Lady Gaga, Twitter monster that she is, is the first person to boast more than 20 million followers:

Celebrity chef Paula Deen would become an internet meme in her own right, but on Twitter she controls her own message:

Oprah Winfrey says "you get a tweet and you get a tweet and you get a tweet!" Not really, but this was her first one:

Former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner's first tweet is rather ironically heartbreaking given the medium (and his misuse of it) is what woud ultimately lead to his downfall:

Rap mogul and self-styled style icon Kanye West has proven a master of the koan-like tweet:

In a chronological list of first-ever tweets, this is guaranteed to be the only time you'll find Gloria Steinem wedged between Kanye and Charlie Sheen:

Actor Charlie Sheen's very public flame-out last year netted him more than a million followers in a single day when he joined and introduced the following hashtag:

Pope Benedict XVI, a pious tweeter if ever there was one:

Dr Ruth Westheimer is an excellent follow – she tweets timeless sex tips and famously tried to crowdsource what a sexual position named after Jeremy Lin might look like:

Samuel L Jackson's might be the best first tweet of all time (with Danny Devito's running a close second):

Rupert Murdoch is a late-comer to the medium, and his odd initial tweets raised suspcions that it might be a phony account:

What were your first 140 characters? Tweet them at us with #myfirsttweet and we'll RT our favorites.

Here are some of your #myfirsttweet posts from today

From Slate editor, Jeremy Stahl:

Rola Kersha didn't have to look back, she tweeted for the first time today:

A bewildered Daniel Crowe reached out to the Twitterverse for comfort:

Jonny Eberle was rather trepedatious:

While Stefan Campbell's thought of ways to turn a profit:

Lauren Salay worried about Hurricane Irene:

Nouveau Broke explained his handle:

Adam Estes still can't answer the question in his first tweet:

 

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