--- title: Colin Powell Posts Selfie on Throwback Thursday on Facebook description: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell posts selfie on Facebook for Throwback Thursday. canonical: https://time.com/23437/colin-powell-was-taking-selfies-before-it-was-cool/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-13T16:03:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:48:46.766Z og:title: Colin Powell Was Taking Selfies Before It Was Cool og:description: The trendsetter posted a selfie for Throwback Thursday og:url: https://time.com/23437/colin-powell-was-taking-selfies-before-it-was-cool/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Colin Powell Was Taking Selfies Before It Was Cool twitter:description: The trendsetter posted a selfie for Throwback Thursday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Colin Powell Was Taking Selfies Before It Was Cool  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 13, 2014 4:03 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 13, 2014 4:03 PM UTC Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has already won Throwback Thursday (#tbt) this week, the Instagram trend in which people post photos of their younger selves on the social network. [He wrote](https://www.facebook.com/GenPowell/photos/pb.128391476718.-2207520000.1394720457./10152374345541719/): “Throwback Thursday – I was doing selfies 60 years before you Facebook folks. Eat your heart out Ellen!”  Powell seems to be trying to beat the [record selfie](http://entertainment.time.com/2014/03/02/oscars-ellen-meryl-streep-selfie/) that talk show host Ellen DeGeneres took with celebrities at the Academy Awards. That image, posted to Twitter, became the [most retweeted tweet](http://entertainment.time.com/2014/03/02/oscars-ellen-meryl-streep-selfie/) ever. **MORE:** [Colin Powell Remembers Tom Clancy](http://ideas.time.com/2013/10/02/colin-powell-remembers-tom-clancy/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/23437/colin-powell-was-taking-selfies-before-it-was-cool/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/23437/colin-powell-was-taking-selfies-before-it-was-cool/"},"headline":"Colin Powell Was Taking Selfies Before It Was Cool","datePublished":"2014-03-13T16:03:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:48:46.766Z","description":"Trendsetter?","url":"https://time.com/23437/colin-powell-was-taking-selfies-before-it-was-cool/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/23437/colin-powell-was-taking-selfies-before-it-was-cool/","name":"Colin Powell Was Taking Selfies Before It Was Cool"}}]}] ```