--- description: The White House released a digital transition plan to lay out what will happen to @POTUS when Donald Trump takes office title: Here's What Happens to Obama's Twitter When Trump Takes Office image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c33135ff87b771d/6988aae95f570f6aa4b22f9d/obama-college.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's What Happens to President Obama's Twitter Account When Donald Trump Takes Office by [Michal Addady](/author/michal-addady/) ## Michal Addady Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 10, 2016 10:21 PM CUT  Barack Obama delivers remarks on the Affordable Care Act at Miami Dade College in Miami, Florida, on Oct. 20, 2016. Barack Obama delivers remarks on the Affordable Care Act at Miami Dade College in Miami, Florida, on Oct. 20, 2016.Jim Watson—AFP/Getty Images by [Michal Addady](/author/michal-addady/) ## Michal Addady Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 10, 2016 10:21 PM CUT So [Donald Trump is the next President of the United States](http://time.com/4564440/donald-trump-wins-2/?xid=homepage&pcd=hp-magmod "undefined"), and he and President Obama took the first step toward his inauguration with [a meeting at the White House on Thursday](http://time.com/4566234/barack-obama-donald-trump/?xid=homepage "undefined"). But amid questions about nuclear codes and the transfer of power, here’s a lighter one: What happens to Obama’s [@POTUS Twitter account](https://twitter.com/POTUS "undefined") when he’s no longer POTUS? The White House actually released a [digital transition plan](https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/10/31/digital-transition-how-presidential-transition-works-social-media-age "undefined") last month to lay out what will happen. When Trump is inaugurated, the @POTUS Twitter account will be handed over to him with its nearly 12 million followers, but without any tweets on its timeline. All of Obama’s tweets will be preserved in the National Archives and Records Administration. Additionally, all his @POTUS tweets will be transferred to a new handle, @POTUS44. [Obama was the first president to use Twitter](http://time.com/3882715/president-obama-now-has-his-own-twitter-account/ "undefined"). He also has his [@BarackObama](https://twitter.com/BarackObama "undefined") account, which is run by his political operation and will remain in his control. Presumably Trump will also still have the [@realDonaldTrump](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump "undefined") Twitter account he used so effectively during his campaign. But when Trump is sworn in as President on Jan. 20, there will be a peaceful transition of social media power. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4567113/barack-obama-donald-trump-twitter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4567113/barack-obama-donald-trump-twitter/"},"headline":"Here's What Happens to President Obama's Twitter Account When Donald Trump Takes Office","datePublished":"2016-11-10T22:21:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:50:43.253Z","description":"There will be a peaceful transition of social media power","url":"https://time.com/4567113/barack-obama-donald-trump-twitter/","keywords":["Tech","Social Media","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c33135ff87b771d/6988aae95f570f6aa4b22f9d/obama-college.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michal Addady","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/michal-addady/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c33135ff87b771d/6988aae95f570f6aa4b22f9d/obama-college.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-HEALTH-OBAMA","caption":"US-POLITICS-HEALTH-OBAMA","creditText":"Jim Watson—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4567113/barack-obama-donald-trump-twitter/","name":"Here's What Happens to President Obama's Twitter Account When Donald Trump Takes Office"}}]}] ```