The First Tweets From The SEO Industry
To celebrate their 8th birthday, Twitter released this tool allowing users to check what their very first Tweet was on Twitter.
We decided to have a little bit of fun and look at the first tweets from some of the movers and shakers in the SEO industry.
For us, Twitter has simply been one of the most unbelievable resources for being able to plug into the minds of some of the best industry experts across the world.
Having the ability to stalk listen to fellow industry professionals talking about conferences they are attending / speaking at, Slideshare decks they have uploaded, or having arguments about the last Google Panda update has been phenomenal.
So, in chronological order, here are the first tweets from the people we listen to across this wonderful industry of ours (and sorry, someone DOES share what they are eating!).
We actually start off with Ryan Jones from Sapient Nitro who tweets way back on the 02nd February 2007 with:
This could explain the throw away comments from lazy journalists who dismiss Twitter as “not wanting to hear about what people had for breakfast!”.
Next Michael Gray Tweets what will become a common theme:
Yup – many others follow in the same vein.
Danny Sullivan tells us that he is working late, with many of us relating to THAT scenario:
Followed a day later by Barry Schwartz who is simply “signing up”:
Will Critchlow comes next, pondering how he can use Twitter:
Followed by the official account for Search Engine land who declare they are making friends already:
The final tweet from March 2007, comes from Matt Siltala who is the first to announce what he does and reach out to this new community to connect!
The first official mention of CATS comes next, possibly paving the way for more “cat spam” across social media, ironic that it should come from Matt Cutts:
Andy Kinsey then announces he is studying hard for his ICT exams (whilst unfortunately having the first entry showing a spelling mistake) – sorry Andy!
Then we have possibly the funniest Tweet on the list (and there are some good contenders) with a GEM of a first Tweet from Rae Hoffman:
55,800 Tweets & 21,800 followers it would appear that she stuck with this shit!
Like buses the second Tweet to make us spit our coffee out comes immediately behind the first, David Naylor from Bronco declaring:
We’re not sure if Dave is pissed off with Twitter, work or his beloved Leeds United. As fellow Leeds fans we would guess at the latter!.
World domination is on Duane Forrester’s mind next:
Before Tom Critchlow struggles to hide his frustration:
Next WordPress SEO superstar Joost De Valk tells us that Roy convinced him (to join twitter?)
Followed by another of our industry’s superstars Rand Fishkin who professionally declares:
We hope the presentation went well! We are now half way through 2007 and Eric Ward is just:
Whilst Rhea Drysdale is simply:
Lisa Barone’s first Tweet looks like she is acting as a matchmaker, whilst also being the first person on this list to correctly use the @mention:
Exciting times are just around the corner for Jon Henshaw as we find that a beta version of a new SEO tool is launching (talk about capturing a very special moment!):
That link still works BTW! Jill Whalen is finding that Twitter can be a great distraction before watching the game:
And the last Tweet of 2007 comes from Ann Smarty who lets us know about a possible new blog post:
The first (first) Tweet of 2008 is from Julie Joyce who is either being distracted by Dragon Slayer or genuinely doesn’t want to watch it (we can’t work out which):
Ben Cook of Evolve Digital Labs is the third on our list to be:
Whilst a day later Chris Bennett also succumbs to Twitter:
Dave Snyder must know that at some point in the future we will all be looking back at our very first Tweets by profoundly tweeting that he is:
Dr Pete Meyers on the other hand is just terrified of a gigantic Keith Richard:
Next up it’s me! With a first attempt at Twitter. The account lasted for one Tweet and was almost another year before we came back to try again. Sadly our only attempt from this account was:
We assume Twitter was asking us “what are you doing?” – otherwise we have no idea why we tweeted that. Still in March of 2008 Wil Reynolds looks to be the first person live tweeting from an event (possibly paving the way for a whole host of new job roles!):
Kate Morris takes to Twitter to help promote her new company:
Whilst four days later Branko Rihtman tells us:
Without him knowing it, one of the most influential people on Twitter for us has been Rishi Lakhani. We were lucky enough to discover this Twitter account soon after we joined and many of the people being featured in this blog have come about by catching conversations @rishil has been having with others. Back in April 2008, Rishil simply said that he was:
On the same day as @rishil’s tweet, Richard Baxter composed the perfect tweet combining what he was doing with what he could offer:
Whilst David Mihm already feared Twitter would take over his life!
Matt McGee is looking for the coin slot in his first ever Tweet:
Before Wiep makes us spit our coffee out a third time with his concern about Twitter’s 140 character limit:
Dan Barker compares Zappo’s recruitment to Willy Wonka’s gobstoppers in his first ever Tweet (sorry the link doesn’t work):
Whereas Joe Hall is repeating what many of us are still thinking:
Justin Parks is just getting on with the job in hand in June 2008:
And four days later Dave Peiris @sharkseo is on the same page as Joe Hall:
Amanda Joyce is:
Before Paul Delaney declares that Twitter is for:
Claire Jarrett is:
Whilst Kevin Mullett is simply:
Paul Madden tries hard to resist the temptation of Twitter:
Which clearly didn’t work judging by the 30,600 tweets that followed! Daniel Bianchini is our first dual screener declaring that he is:
Whilst John Doherty appears to be having problems leading up to Thanksgiving:
Richard Fergie has a new laptop, with a NEW software platform called Windows Vista!
With the final Tweet of 2008 coming from Judith Lewis who also gives us the first call to action:
2009 kicks off with the first Tweet from Paddy Moogan who doesn’t appear to have had a great time in Birmingham, and is already wishing for better weather!
Whilst on the very same day we return to Twitter, this time for good:
We can only assume Richard Shove has been boxing with his first tweet stating that:
Whereby James Chapman is discussing a new product called Google Drive (link still works):
Gianluca Fiorelli is the man who gave us one of the best recommendations we have had from Twitter which was towards a little cloud based bookmarking website called Pocket. We still use it to this day. But back in February 2009 he was the next in a long line of first tweets to declare:
Pete Handley on the other hand is cursing only 28 days in February!
Disappointingly Alan Bleiweiss doesn’t begin his Twitter journey with an Ass Hat tweet. Instead he declares like many to be:
On the same day John Daulton realises the same thing as I have just done which is:
Whereas Aaron Lee:
Greg Gifford uses his first Tweet to try and link his Facebook page with Twitter – no Greg, don’t do it!
SEO Book is excited:
But Martin McDonald is fuming:
Wayne Barker uses his first tweet from 2010 to share the news about a new social network from Google – Google Buzz:
Later in 2010 Russell McAthy is assimilated into Twitter:
Two days later Kirsty Hulse simple lets us know that she is:
Well done to Kirsty for being one of only a few people to use the @mention in their very first tweet.
We are now into 2011 and James Welch kicks off his Twitter account with the first retweet, which includes a link and hashtags. Not the worst first entry to Twitter!
Our final two SEO industry first tweets come from Agustin Murphy and Inbound.org. Agustin just says:
Before Inbound.org leave us with an AWESOME first post.
It’s weird to think how we have all developed as people and businesses from that very first Tweet and how the world has changed around us to find that Twitter has become an integral part of some people’s lives.
Finally, if you get nothing else from this post, I have just listed some of the very best people in the SEO industry – make sure you go and follow them for all the very latest thought leadership and tactic sharing around SEO strategy.
If I’ve missed someone off this list that you think deserves to be included please let me know. I’ve been at this solidly for the last 4 hours so it is possible a few have slipped through my fingers!
All retweets and shares appreciated 😉