President Obama announced Monday that he'd signed up for his own Twitter account — @POTUS.
Hello, Twitter! It's Barack. Really! Six years in, they're finally giving me my own account.
— President Obama (@POTUS) May 18, 2015
BREAKING: President Obama just launched @POTUS with a tweet from the Oval Office. It's really him! #WelcomeToTwitter https://t.co/oMsgvV55i1
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 18, 2015
The account is indeed verified with one of Twitter's blue checkmarks. It's been gaining followers at an extraordinary pace (62,000 between 11:44 am and 11:58 am).
Did you think Obama was already on Twitter? Well, before this, Obama would occasionally "sign" tweets from the staff-run @WhiteHouse account and @BarackObama campaign account with his initials to verify that those particular tweets were from him personally, rather than from his staff. The @POTUS account will be the first one with only the president's own words, the administration claims.
Currently, Obama's new account follows various White House staffers, Cabinet officials, government agencies, sports teams he likes, and institutions of higher education that he attended.
White House staffer Alex Wall has tweeted that the @POTUS account will be passed on to Obama's successor.
.@reidepstein Yep! @POTUS will be passed on to future Presidents. Here's a quick overview: http://t.co/l9gZkPaMZ1
— Alex Wall (@Alex44) May 18, 2015
