This morning, President Barack Obama joined Twitter as @POTUS, sending out his first tweet at 11:38 a.m. EST:
Hello, Twitter! It's Barack. Really! Six years in, they're finally giving me my own account.
— President Obama (@POTUS) May 18, 2015Really!
If you're confused as to why this is happening now, near the end of his term, then you're not alone. For the past few years, Obama's staff has been tweeting for him via @BarackObama, but now he's got his own account, one where he will presumably use his very own fingers to devise fire tweets. But seeing as his handle is @POTUS, does this mean he has to give it up in two years? Are they going to give this handle to every president who comes through the White House? Will they archive all those tweets and put them in future history books? (I have a lot of questions.)
Anyways, because this is Twitter and also the year 2015, POTUS's mentions got OUT OF CONTROL very fast, with everyone from Joe Biden to your mom to your least favorite Internet troll @-ing him. Between earnest welcomes were funny fake manual RTs:
GOAT first tweet RT @POTUS Hello, Twitter! It's Barack. It's Lit!
— Desus Nice (@desusnice) May 18, 2015
Bold first tweet. RT @POTUS 9/11 was an inside job.
— The Bowl Cut Kid (@BourbonGhost) May 18, 2015
barack plz chill RT @POTUS: @ OR DAP
— Jasper Jawns (@Jamil_SF) May 18, 2015And even deeper in his mentions were people calling him daddy, others asking him if he had seen Mad Max, thirst rappers sending links out to their mixtapes, thirst followers asking him to "slip into their DMs," as well as a slew of confessionals:
@POTUS my wife left me
— SC (@stace_ofbase) May 18, 2015
@POTUS I'm gay
— Frunch (@FrunchPls) May 18, 2015
@POTUS fix my problems I'm sad
— Derrick (@Dont_Worry_Mon) May 18, 2015Is Obama regretting this or reveling in his mentions? Will he ever open up his DMs to everyone? Looking forward to your future tweets, Mr. President.
P.S. Follow for follow?
UPDATE: Oh shit, Bill Clinton got in the mentions, it's officially lit:
Welcome to @Twitter, @POTUS! One question: Does that username stay with the office? #askingforafriend
— Bill Clinton (@billclinton) May 18, 2015
