President Obama Gets His Own Twitter Account
Twitter One has taken flight.
Hello, Twitter! It’s Barack. Really! Six years in, they’re finally giving me my own account.
— President Obama (@POTUS) May 18, 2015
President Barack Obama has been addressing us via tweet for six years, but Monday the POTUS finally gets @POTUS, his own personal Twitter account.
In its first moments of its existence, @POTUS has been climbing in follower counts, adding hundreds per second. At time of writing, more than 75 thousand people have signed up to get the presidents 140-character messages.
A press release from the White House explained that “[t]he @POTUS Twitter account will serve as a new way for President Obama to engage directly with the American people, with tweets coming exclusively from him.”
Vice President Joe Biden welcomed his boss with a tweet of his own:
Hey @POTUS – Welcome to Twitter. See you around the neighborhood. –vp pic.twitter.com/iaUVFtQVpk
— Vice President Biden (@VP) May 18, 2015
To date, the president’s tweets have typically been dictated and sent out through the official @BarackObama and @WhiteHouse accounts, marked with a sign-off of “-bo”. The @POTUS handle will, for the first time, give the commander-in-chief an account to feature only his comments, presumably from his hands to the Web.
Here’s a photo of President Obama sending the very first @POTUS tweet from the Oval Office. pic.twitter.com/EQGmVAlybh
— Kori Schulman (@ks44) May 18, 2015
CNN reports that the newly created @POTUS will transfer over to whomever gets elected to the Oval Office in 2016.
It’s unclear whether Obama will continue to drop presidential wisdom over other accounts. But if you want to keep tabs on the 44th prez, you’ll want to follow those accounts and the new @POTUS username.
Email me at danbean@yahoo-inc.com. Follow me on Twitter at @danielwbean.
For all the hottest tech news and gadget reviews, follow Yahoo Tech on Facebook!
