Obama makes Presidency cool with a @POTUS first
Washington (dpa) – US President Barack Obama on Monday became the first US president to send messages from a presidential Twitter account.
"Hello, Twitter! It's Barack. Really!" Obama said in his first message using @POTUS. "Six years in, they're finally giving me my own account."
The message was sent out about 11:30 am (1530 GMT) and nine hours later 1.3 million people had signed up to follow @POTUS. The acronym is Washington shorthand for president of the United States.
In the same interval the president had signed up to follow 65 Twitter accounts, including those set up by Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, US Ambassador to the United Nations Samatha Power, several top US government departments and a number of professional sports teams.
The White House has had a Twitter account since April 2009, and Obama also used the social media platform during his two campaigns for president. But the @POTUS account apparently will be used by the president to send messages he writes himself.
The White House sent a photo of Obama in the Oval Office tapping out a message on his mobile phone.
A number of prominent people welcomed Obama to Twitter. Among them was former president Bill Clinton, who asked whether the username stayed with the office? Clinton's message indicated he was "asking for a friend," an obvious reference to his wife, Hillary Clinton, who is running for president.
"Good question," Obama replied, adding that, yes, @POTUS "comes with the house," meaning Hillary Clinton could take it over if she wins the presidential election next year.
Then Obama jokingly asked Clinton whether he knew anyone interested in @FLOTUS, the Twitter account now used by first lady Michelle Obama.