Obama Joins Twitter with Own Account

Photo by EPA/BGNES

US President Barack Obama launched on Monday his first Twitter account that is not run by staff members.

"Dad, husband, and 44th President of the United States" is how he describes himself.

Obama has had only three tweets as of Tuesday 11:00 EEST, in about 16 hours of using the social network on what he claims is a personal basis.

But his first tweet (below) has been retweeted by 230 000 (as of the same moment) and favorited by 310 000.

Hello, Twitter! It's Barack. Really! Six years in, they're finally giving me my own account.

? President Obama (@POTUS) May 18, 2015

His followers are already numbering 1.62 million people - while he a bit more modest as a follower himself, with only 65. (UK Prime Minister David Cameron has just over a million at the moment, despite having been on Twitter since 2010).

The New York Times jokingly comments that he is now "facing a stark new challenge: trying to communicate in no more that 140 characters."

The previous Twitter account of Obama was run by a team of Organizing for Action, a civic movement which endorsed his candidacy or a first term in office.