Pictured: President Barack Obama sending his first tweet from his @BarackObama Twitter account while visiting a Red Cross Disaster Centre in Washington DC on Jan. 18, 2010.
President Barack Obama made history in several ways big and small; one of his many notable firsts was joining Twitter in his official capacity as president, becoming the only commander in chief to maintain an account on the social media platform. (In the past eight years, White House Twitter accounts have sent more than 30,000 tweets.) So, what will happen to the @POTUS Twitter account on Jan. 20, when President-elect Donald Trump takes power? Read on for answers to the major questions you might have:
Who Keeps or Gets the Account?
The @POTUS handle will be turned over to Donald Trump once he takes office. Barack Obama also retains a personal, official Twitter account at @BarackObama, so we expect to see him remain active there in his post-presidency career. His team opened the account back in 2007 in the run up to his election, and it is still frequently updated with highlights and news. The @POTUS account was first launched in May of 2015, and Obama has used it for a variety of purposes in the years since, from sharing statements on major national and world events to weighing in on the right way to make guacamole.
But What Happens to President Obama's Old Tweets?
The @POTUS account will be wiped clean of content before President-elect Trump takes it over, though it will maintain its nearly 13 million followers. But don't worry; Obama's tweets won't be lost. A new Twitter account, @POTUS44, will be created to archive his Twitter history. The feed will be maintained by the US National Archives and go live once the presidential transition has taken place.
How Will @POTUS Change Under Trump?
It might be an understatement to say that Trump and Obama have different styles and habits when it comes to using Twitter. Obama was a restrained presence on the site and has only sent about 100 tweets each year he's held the official account. In contrast, Donald Trump has sent more than 34,200 tweets in his nearly seven years on the platform - that's nearly 5,000 tweets per year. Beyond sheer volume and frequency, Trump often uses his Twitter account to disparage and attack his detractors and to write seemingly impulsive missives his critics say could have real and detrimental ramifications for national security and our relationships with other countries. So far, there's little evidence to support the idea that he might be a quieter or more measured Twitter user when he takes the White House later this month.