--- title: Michelle Obama Urges Youths to 'Think Before You Tweet' description: Michelle Obama has a bit of advice for millennials eager to have their voice heard: think before you tweet canonical: https://time.com/5006788/michelle-obama-chicago-twitter/ author: Laignee Barron article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-02T04:13:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:48:26.201Z article:section: Politics og:title: Michelle Obama Has This Advice for Young People og:description: "Think before you tweet" og:url: https://time.com/5006788/michelle-obama-chicago-twitter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7fe4dc3e09b058e5/6988e450096a94f3006a0411/rts1i13h.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Former First Lady Michelle Obama speaks during the second day of the first Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michelle Obama Has This Advice for Young People twitter:description: "Think before you tweet" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7fe4dc3e09b058e5/6988e450096a94f3006a0411/rts1i13h.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Michelle Obama Urges Young People to 'Think Before You Tweet' by [Laignee Barron](https://time.com/author/laignee-barron/) ## Laignee Barron Nov 2, 2017 4:13 AM UTC  Former First Lady Michelle Obama speaks during the second day of the inaugural Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago, on Nov. 1, 2017. Former First Lady Michelle Obama speaks during the second day of the inaugural Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago, on Nov. 1, 2017.Kamil Krzaczynski—Reuters by [Laignee Barron](https://time.com/author/laignee-barron/) ## Laignee Barron Nov 2, 2017 4:13 AM UTC Michelle Obama has a bit of advice for millennials eager to have their voice heard: think before you tweet. Speaking at an inaugural [youth leadership summit](http://time.com/5003926/barack-michelle-obama-foundation-summit-donald-trump/) held by the Obama Foundation in Chicago Wednesday, the former First Lady impressed upon her audience that “words matter,” [reports](http://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/01/politics/michelle-obama-chicago-twitter-men/index.html) CNN. “When you have a voice, you just can’t use it any kind of way, you know? This whole ‘tell it like it is’ business, that’s nonsense,” Obama said in a conversation with [poet Elizabeth Alexander](http://time.com/5005322/watch-online-michelle-obama-foundation-summit/). “You don’t just say what’s on your mind. You don’t tweet every thought. Most of your first initial thoughts are not worthy of the light of day.” Twitter and social media, she continued, can be a “powerful weapon.” At a point drawing laughter and applause from her audience, Obama clarified that her suggestion wasn’t aimed at “anybody in particular,” but rather she was “talking about all of us.” **Read more:** [_President Trump Just Deleted Tweets About Luther Strange. Is He Allowed to Do That?_](http://time.com/4958877/donald-trump-deletes-tweets-legal-implications/) “When you’re the first lady or the president, \[or\] the commander in chief, and you have that voice and that power and that platform,” Obama said, “what comes with that is the responsibility to know that every word you utter has consequences.” Former president Barack Obama closed the two-day summit with a speech on Nov. 1\. The event was attended by [500 youth participants from 60 countries](https://www.obama.org). Other speakers included Prince Harry, rapper Common and “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, with performances by Chance the Rapper, Gloria Estefan and The National. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5006788/michelle-obama-chicago-twitter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5006788/michelle-obama-chicago-twitter/"},"headline":"Michelle Obama Urges Young People to 'Think Before You Tweet'","datePublished":"2017-11-02T04:13:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:48:26.201Z","description":"\"Words matter,\" the former first lady said","url":"https://time.com/5006788/michelle-obama-chicago-twitter/","keywords":["People","Newsfeed","politics","Obama","Michelle Obama","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7fe4dc3e09b058e5/6988e450096a94f3006a0411/rts1i13h.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laignee Barron","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laignee-barron/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7fe4dc3e09b058e5/6988e450096a94f3006a0411/rts1i13h.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Former First Lady Michelle Obama speaks during the second day of the first Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago","caption":"Former First Lady Michelle Obama speaks during the second day of the first Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago","creditText":"Kamil Krzaczynski—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"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":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/people/","name":"People"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5006788/michelle-obama-chicago-twitter/","name":"Michelle Obama Urges Young People to 'Think Before You Tweet'"}}]}] ```