How Two Young Bros Used Photos Of Andre The Giant To Get 2M People To Give A Crap About History

It happens countless times each day. I’ll find a popular website, Tumblr or Twitter account and wonder “why the hell didn’t I think of that?”

History In Pictures is a perfect example. A Twitter account dedicated to historical but awesome photos. So damn simple and interesting. It’s so interesting over 2 million people follow just to see rare pics of William Shatner and Iggy Pop.

The account was created by two young bros who thought “hey, history can be interesting. At least in small chunks.”

Just ask Xavier Di Petta and Kyle Cameron. The two wunderkinder are behind the incredibly popular History in Pictures Twitter account, which capitalizes on the simple fact that, yes, people can care about something other than cats or porn on the Internet.

In 2013, the two launched Earth Pics on Twitter, which attracted 1.47 million followers. But, despite their shared interest in travel, they realized their true passion was history — and so, in July 2013, @HistoryInPics was born.

“Education is a main focus, and that’s why I love it,” says Di Petta. He recognizes some criticisms that photos simply aren’t enough to inform viewers, but maintains that 140 characters are enough to whet someone’s appetite for learning more.

“You can go on our page, and every now and then you’ll see an image where there’s a 99 percent chance you haven’t seen it before,” says Cameron.

The pics are just of famous people, or just people, as the photos include historical structures and important moments in the history of the world. Moments that shaped what we are as a society. And also crazy shit like Kiss and an old lady in Central Park.

Of course, with success, comes issues. The account is criticized and slammed because these photos aren’t property of the bros and they never give credit to the photographer. And to that I say “welcome to the internet, get over it.”

[H/T: New York Post]