The true story of how THAT Huw Edwards tweet went viral

David Owens

October 1 was a momentous date for those of us who love godlike newsreader and wearer of lovely hair – Huw Edwards.

When a tweet appeared bearing the legend ‘Huw Edwards’, the social media platform went into meltdown.

Was this an attempt by the Welsh overlord to do an ‘Ed Balls’, who famously back in April 2011 tweeted his own moniker in a mistaken attempt to search for posts bearing his name.

The tweet was shared by thousands with the former MP unaware that it was possible to delete tweets. The tweet has never been deleted. The incident is now celebrated as ‘Ed Balls Day’ every April 28.

The news titan’s post was met with similar glee from social media – racking up an impressive amount of retweets, likes and comments.

Huw Edwards

— Huw Edwards (@thehuwedwards) October 1, 2021

So what was the reason for this mysterious post? Was it crack newsman Huw’s journalistic attempt to see what would happen if he deployed the same tactics as Ed Balls?

Or had somebody swiped Huw’s phone and posted the mystery tweet.

Well, the truth it appears is somewhere in between.

It can be traced to Welsh social media guru Owen Williams.

Trending

The former head of social media at BBC Wales, who now runs his own creative social media agency, Siml, was an interviewee on the acclaimed Huw Edwards yn 60 documentary, which aired on S4C this week.

Meeting up with the newsreader during filming, Owen told Huw he could get him trending on Twitter with one viral post.

Agreeing to the challenge, he allowed Owen to tweet from his account; the newsreader agog when his Twitter account exploded.

They always say don’t meet your heroes, but Huw *really* wanted to. 😆

To be clear, he *genuinely* didn’t know what I was typing… and then the retweets, likes, texts and news stories began!

(I particularly enjoyed @edballs’ interjection)

Get it here: https://t.co/n2LLKuZ6Ay https://t.co/MqsMUITA7V pic.twitter.com/wE9aOxwYwv

— Owen Williams 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@OwsWills) December 29, 2021

“Believe it or not, the secret to viral social media is pretty straightforward,” said Owen. “And when you know how to game the system, you can do it with alarming regularity.

“Being given the keys to Huw’s account for a few minutes, and exposure to that enormous, dedicated following wasn’t an opportunity I was going to pass up. It’s also not every day that you get the opportunity to spend time with a future President of the Republic of Wales!

“He’s every bit as interesting, witty and generous as you’d expect, too.”

As for Ed Balls, who you think might have been put out by the News at Ten presenter stealing his thunder, well he joined in the fun himself.

Huw Edwards https://t.co/qoFASQ507y

— Ed Balls (@edballs) October 1, 2021

Whether October 1 will now be marked as Huw Edwards Day remains to be seen.

But let’s be honest, it’s about time we had a date in the calendar to rival St David’s Day.

You can watch Huw Edwards yn 60 on the BBC iPlayer. (It comes with English subtitles)