About
Ed Balls is a British politician who rose to internet fame after accidentally tweeting his own name in April 2011, leading many users on Twitter to mockingly retweet the message thousands of times. Since then, many British Internet users have been annually celebrating “Ed Balls Day” by spamming his name on Twitter on the anniversary of the original tweet.
Origin
On April 28th, 2011, British Labour Party and Co-operative Party politician Edward Michael Balls accidentally tweeted his own name while trying to search for an article about him on Twitter (shown below). Within two years, the tweet received over 10,800 retweets and 4,300 favorites.
Spread
For the remainder of 2011 and 2012, the tweet remained intact on Balls’ Twitter profile and became mocked by many British users on the site. On February 5th, 2013, Storify[6] user Moose Allain uploaded a compilation of tweets describing how to pronounce “Ed Balls.” On April 8th, a Facebook[3] event page was created for the second anniversary of Ed Balls’ tweet, which received over 900 RSVPs in the following week. On April 10th, journalist Andy Kelly tweeted a joke about Ed Balls punning his own name at the funeral for former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Within five days, the tweet gained more than 55 retweets and 40 favorites.
Ed Balls steps up to the podium at Thatcher’s funeral, unfolds a piece of paper, and clears his throat“Ed Balls.”
— Andy Kelly (@ultrabrilliant) April 10, 2013
On April 11th, blogger Rebecca Baker published an article about the upcoming two-year anniversary for the tweet.[8] The following day, Balls retweeted a photograph of a train sign with his name written on it. Also on April 12th, the tech news blog Digital Spy[2] published a post about Balls’ recognition of the meme.
Sorry… But this is getting really weird.. RT @ felicitymorse: Ed Balls makes it onto a train sign twitter.com/FelicityMorse/…
— Ed Balls (@edballsmp) April 12, 2013
On April 13th, Urban Dictionary[4] user mosmi submitted an entry for “Ed Balls,” defining it as a meme inspired by the tweet from April 2011. On April 15th, the viral content site BuzzFeed[1] featured a compilation of notable examples of the meme and The Mirror[5] published an article about the upcoming anniversary of the tweet, reporting that many Twitter users planned to retweet Ed Balls’ name on April 28th.
Notable Examples
Leading up to the tweet’s two-year anniversary, many Twitter users posted edited photos and image macros referencing the meme.
Bookmarklet
An Ed Balls bookmarklet[7] tool allows users to change the text on an entire webpage to the name “Ed Balls” (shown below).
Ed Balls Day
Since the original tweet went viral in April 2011, the incident has been annually celebrated by British Internet users on the day of its anniversary, with many retweeting his original message and others commemorating the occasion through various works of homage on April 28th. In 2015, Balls submitted a framed and signed printout of the infamous tweet to be auctioned off at a fundraising event for the Labour party.
Search Interest
External References
[1]BuzzFeed – Best of the Ed Balls meme
[2]Digital Spy – Ed Balls Acknowledges Ed Balls Meme
[4]Urban Dictionary – Ed Balls
[5]The Mirror – Ed Balls Recognizes Really Weird Twitter Meme
[6]Storify – How I Pronounce Ed Balls
[7]Casiotone – Ed Balls Bookmarklet
[9]Twitter – @EdBalls’ Tweet
[10]Twitter – @LabourStudents’ Tweet
[11]Telegraph – Third Anniversary of MP’s Tweet
[12]Telegraph – Fourth Anniversary of MP’s Tweet
[13]Telegraph – How former Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls became Twitter’s favourite politician
[14]Wikipedia – Ed Balls Day