Barack Obama’s press team have been tweeting away at @BarackObama for years. Today, with a tweet from the Oval Office, President Obama launched @POTUS, the official Twitter account of the President of the United States.
President Barack Obama joined active Twitter users Monday when he sent his first tweet using a presidential handle on the 140-character social media platform at 10:38 a.m. EDT.
“The @POTUS Twitter account will serve as a new way for President Obama to engage directly with the American people,” read a post on the White House blog.
“President Obama is committed to making his Administration the most open and participatory in history, and @POTUS will give Americans a new venue to engage on the issues that matter most to them.”
This is his very first tweet:
Hello, Twitter! It’s Barack. Really! Six years in, they’re finally giving me my own account.
 President Obama (@POTUS) May 18, 2015
Obama used the Twitter app on an iPhone to do it, and his first follows were the official White House account and wife Michelle Obama’s @FLOTUS account.
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
