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"Throwback Thursday" is an Internet theme day observed on every Thursday during which people share an old photograph of themselves via social networking sites and image-sharing communities, most notably through photo-sharing mobile app Instagram.

Origin

Throwback has been associated with things that are deemed classic or vintage since as early as 2003, when it was first defined on Urban Dictionary.[1] The earliest known mention of "Throwback Thursday" can be found in the title of a series of revamped retro cartoon characters that were illustrated by animator Saxton Moore and uploaded onto his blog[2] in January 2006 (shown below).

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In July 2006, the sneaker fan blog Nice Kicks launched their own Throwback Thursday series[3], highlighting a selection of once-popular vintage sneakers. The first post was dedicated to the Nike Air Trainer SCII[4] (originally released in 1991) and the series continued through June 2012. Also in July 2006, a Throwback Thursday-themed football game was held at Georgia Tech in which players wore 1970s-style uniforms.[5] In 2011, the phrase began to gain more popularity in the blogosphere[6][7][8] as it became synonymous with events and objects that are no longer culturally relevant.

By November 2011[11], ten months after Instagram had introduced hashtags, posting old photos of oneself on Thursdays on the photo sharing site had became an established trend via the hashtags #throwbackthursday[9] and #tbt.[10] As of May 2013, these tags boast 24.2 million and 42.2 million photos respectively. Many people also shared these Instagram photos to other social networks, resulting in more than 90,000 uses of #throwbackthursday on Twitter in the first week of January 2012.[12] Later that month, Throwback Thursday was first defined on Urban Dictionary.[13]

A number of celebrities began to partake in the practice, including Kim Kardashian[14] who began sharing Throwback Thursday photos on her social media sites[21] in February 2012. The same month, a Yahoo! Answers[22] user asked about the meaning behind the phrase Throwback Thursday, and in June, a similar question was posed on Ask.com.[15] By July 2012, #tbt hosted more than 9.1 million photos and was the 15th most popular tag on Instagram.[23] #tbt has also been included on lists of the most important Instagram hashtags to know compiled by communications consultant Arik Hanson[24] and the Daily Dot.[25] In May 2013, the hashtag was discussed in an in-depth article by Digital Trends.[26]

Outside of Instagram, dozens of groups dedicated to sharing personal vintage photos have been created on Facebook[16], ranging from 20 to 200 members as of May 2013. Both #throwbackthursday and #tbt are popular tags on Tumblr[17][18] and Twitter.[19][20]

Search Interest

External References

[1] Urban Dictionary – Definitions for "Throwback"

[2] Blogspot – Sacks10 – THROWBACK THURSDAYS 10

[3] Nice Kicks – Posts tagged "throwback thursday"

[4] Nice Kicks – THROWBACK THURSDAY: NIKE AIR TRAINER SC II

[5] Ramblin Wreck – Throwback Thursday for Tech-Virginia Game

[6] Ustream – Throwback Thursday: Check out These Recorded Events You May Have Missed!

[7] The Baltimore Sun – Throwback Thursday: John Mackey's Hall-of-Fame hands

[8] Nicole Richie – Throwback Thursday: Old School Candy

[9] Statigram – Photos tagged #throwbackthursday

[10] Statigram – Photos tagged #tbt

[11] Instagram – allhiphopcom: One of the best groups ever! EPMD! #throwbackthursday Posted November 10th, 2011

[12] Mashable – The 10 Most Noteworthy Photos on Twitter This Week [PICS]

[13] Urban Dictionary – Throwback Thursday

[14] Kim Kardashian – Throwback Thursday… Me And Kourtney

[15] Ask.com – What is throwback thursday all about on instagram?

[16] Facebook – Search results for groups named "Throwback Thursday"

[17] Tumblr – Posts tagged #throwbackthursday

[18] Tumblr – Posts tagged #tbt

[19] Twitter – Tweet results for #throwbackthursday

[20] Twitter – Tweet results for #tbt

[21] Twitter – @KimKardashian's First #throwbackthursday Tweet

[22] Yahoo! Answers – What does Throwback Thursday mean? And what do you do on Thursday?

[23] Daily Dot – The 20 most popular tags on Instagram

[24] Communications Conversations – The ultimate Instagram hash tag cheat sheet

[25] The Daily Dot – The definitive glossary of weird Instagram hashtags

[26] Digital Trends – Everything you need to know about your favorite day: Throwback Thursday (er, #tbt)



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