# Which historical figures would you like to see on social media? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 7, 2023, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775 "2023-11-07T19:46:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/1 "2023-11-07T19:46:28Z")
You manage to send a self-powering, locked-down smartphone back in time and into the hands of some famous person who died in the 20th century or earlier. You get them registered with a social media account of your choice (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or whatever) and they duly start sending posts into the future, via a one-way time-warp Internet link. (They can only _send_ posts, but not read or reply to anyone else’s!) Which historical figures would you most like to get set up this way? My picks: - Leonid Brezhnev. Man, a Twitter or Mastodon account would be comedy gold. I’m imagining something like [@RikerGoogling](https://botsin.space/@RikerGoogling) crossed with [@realDonaldTrump](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump). - Samuel Pepys. Already famous in modern times for his long-running and long-winded diary; would be interesting to get a real-time condensed version in 280-character chunks _à la_ 2017-era Twitter. - Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky. A pioneer in colour photography, he travelled thousands of kilometres to [document the peoples of the multiethnic Russian empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Prokudin-Gorsky#Gallery). I would love to see his Instagram channel. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/2 "2023-11-07T22:09:21Z")
Maybe Hitler, circa 1935, if an automated “LOL!” reply could be sent to each of his posts. When he started throwing Führer Fits™ it could be a hoot, and with luck he’d remove himself from history. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/3 "2023-11-07T22:15:59Z")
I would pick some literary giant, Shakespeare, Cervantes or Goethe, to see if their wit also worked in a social media context. ETA: my favorite literary genius, Franz Kafka, wouldn’t want to have anything of it, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/4 "2023-11-07T23:03:13Z")
Philip K. Dick. He would certainly bring something unique to the social media scene. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/5 "2023-11-07T23:26:54Z")
I could imagine Mark Twain coming up with some good posts. Or Ambrose Bierce–his _Devil’s Dictionary_ entries would make good tweets. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/6 "2023-11-07T23:29:55Z")
Abraham Lincoln [![](https://imgc.allpostersimages.com/img/posters/don-t-believe-the-internet-lincoln-humor-poster_u-L-F5SD680.jpg?artHeight=350&artPerspective=n&artWidth=550&background=fbfbfb) ](https://imgc.allpostersimages.com/img/posters/don-t-believe-the-internet-lincoln-humor-poster_u-L-F5SD680.jpg?artHeight=350&artPerspective=n&artWidth=550&background=fbfbfb) ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/7 "2023-11-07T23:45:56Z")
Edward Abbey ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/8 "2023-11-07T23:52:49Z")
Benjamin Franklin. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/9 "2023-11-08T00:04:59Z")
FWIW, John Quincy Adams kept a journal of tweet-sized entries and for the last dozen or more years someone has been tweeting them under his name 200 years to the day of each entry. > ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/10 "2023-11-08T00:18:56Z")
Oscar Wilde. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/11 "2023-11-08T00:35:01Z")
Nice one! ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/12 "2023-11-08T02:01:42Z")
Captain James Cook. He wasn’t particularly verbose in his journals, but maybe he’d loosen up in an attempt to gain followers. Frederick Law Olmstead. He’s best known for his landscaping career, but in the 1850s he traveled the Slave states as a somewhat undercover journalist for the New York Daily Times. He subsequently wrote three books about his experiences. Davy Crockett ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/13 "2023-11-08T02:28:04Z")
Rasputin would likely have some interesting posts. Leonardo da Vinci. Darwin on the _Beagle_. Teenage Marco Polo. Benjamin Franklin. Akhenaten. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/14 "2023-11-08T02:41:04Z")
Great choices! ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/15 "2023-11-08T09:34:19Z")
Robert Walpole UK’s First Lord of the Treasury 1721-1742 Considered to be the first Prime Minister and he defined, indeed still defines, many elements of the role for 300 years. ---
**Author:** ![spikebrennan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@spikebrennan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spikebrennan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/16 "2023-11-08T19:02:53Z")
> **[Diogenes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes)** > > Diogenes (/daɪˈɒdʒɪniːz/ dy-OJ-in-eez; Ancient Greek: Διογένης, romanized: Diogénēs \[di.oɡénɛːs\]), also known as Diogenes the Cynic (Διογένης ὁ Κυνικός, Diogénēs ho Kynikós) or Diogenes of Sinope, was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynicism. He was born in Sinope, an Ionian colony on the Black Sea coast of Anatolia in 412 or 404 BC and died at Corinth in 323 BC. > Diogenes was a controversial figure. He was banished, or fled from, Sinope over debasement of currency. He was the son... ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/17 "2023-11-09T00:32:27Z")
Ben Franklin is the first one that comes to mind. Thomas Payne, Mozart, Twain, William Jennings Bryan, Marcel DuChamp, Dali, Lord Byron, Nellie Bly, all those wonderfully witty suffragettes. The Italian Renaissance in general. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/18 "2023-11-09T00:38:33Z")
Nostradamus. Bullshit in, bullshit out, perfect for social media. Can’t leave conspiracies to QAnon alone! ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/19 "2023-11-09T01:43:56Z")
Another vote for Twain and Ben Franklin, two of my favorite historical wits. It’d also be cool if James Madison had live-tweeted the constitutional convention! ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2023, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775/20 "2023-11-09T02:27:47Z")
[Dorothy Parker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Parker) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-historical-figures-would-you-like-to-see-on-social-media/992775.md?page=2)