President Barack Obama is greeted by former President Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York in September 2014. (Associated Press photo)
Within hours of President Barack Obama debuting on Twitter, he'd racked up tens of thousands of followers -and a cheeky exchange with a former inhabitant of the white House, Bill Clinton.
President Clinton's wife, Hillary, is running for office.
On Monday, President Obama sent his first tweet from his own account.
"Hello, Twitter! It's Barack. Really! Six years in, they're finally giving me my own account," he posted from his verified @POTUS account, which had more than 217,000 followers in its first 45 minutes.
His Twitter page featured an image of Obama, his family and civil rights leaders crossing Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march earlier this year.
He described himself as "Dad, husband, and 44th President of the United States" and followed his alma maters, his beloved Chicago sports teams, cabinet members, government departments, and key members of the army of White House staff who tweet.
Obama also followed former presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, but is not following @HillaryClinton, his former Secretary of State who is considered the frontrunner for the Democratic race for 2016.
It's not the first time Obama has tweeted. He has occasionally signed tweets from the @WhiteHouse account with his initials, "-bo" and also has used @BarackObama, which is an account run by Organizing for Action, Obama's former campaign team.
The @POTUS account will be "a new way for President Obama to engage directly with the American people, with tweets coming exclusively from him," said Alex Wall, a social media strategist with the White House, in a blog post.
And when his time in office is done, @POTUS will be passed on to future presidents, Wall said in a tweet. Bill Clinton, does that answer your question?
Welcome to @Twitter, @POTUS! One question: Does that username stay with the office? #askingforafriend
- Bill Clinton (@billclinton) May 18, 2015Good question, @billclinton. The handle comes with the house. Know anyone interested in @FLOTUS?
- President Obama (@POTUS) May 18, 2015President Clinton's wife, Hillary, is running for office.
On Monday, President Obama sent his first tweet from his own account.
"Hello, Twitter! It's Barack. Really! Six years in, they're finally giving me my own account," he posted from his verified @POTUS account, which had more than 217,000 followers in its first 45 minutes.
His Twitter page featured an image of Obama, his family and civil rights leaders crossing Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march earlier this year.
He described himself as "Dad, husband, and 44th President of the United States" and followed his alma maters, his beloved Chicago sports teams, cabinet members, government departments, and key members of the army of White House staff who tweet.
Obama also followed former presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, but is not following @HillaryClinton, his former Secretary of State who is considered the frontrunner for the Democratic race for 2016.
It's not the first time Obama has tweeted. He has occasionally signed tweets from the @WhiteHouse account with his initials, "-bo" and also has used @BarackObama, which is an account run by Organizing for Action, Obama's former campaign team.
The @POTUS account will be "a new way for President Obama to engage directly with the American people, with tweets coming exclusively from him," said Alex Wall, a social media strategist with the White House, in a blog post.
And when his time in office is done, @POTUS will be passed on to future presidents, Wall said in a tweet. Bill Clinton, does that answer your question?
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