President Obama Now Has His Own Twitter Account

Two Twitter accounts weren’t enough for President Obama. On Monday, he signed up for a third.

Though Obama has been an avid user of social media — and by one study is the most followed world leader on Twitter — his other accounts @WhiteHouse and @BarackObama are controlled by the Administration and Organizing for Action, the nonprofit that succeeded his presidential-campaign arm.

The new account, @POTUS, looks like more of a personal account, perhaps to allow him to continue running it after he leaves the White House.

The account rapidly added followers, going from zero to almost 100,000 in less than half an hour and growing by the minute.

Obama made some interesting choices setting up the account. The short bio reads: “Dad, husband, and 44th President of the United States.” And the header photo at the top of his account page is a picture with his family crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the anniversary of the iconic civil rights march in Selma, Ala., in March.

The White House says the new account is a way for the President to engage directly with the American people.

“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,” wrote a White House blogger announcing the account.