US president Barack Obama has finally got his hands on his own twitter account, racking up 1.68 million followers since Monday with a mere three tweets.
His twitter handle, @POTUS, stands for President of the United States and the account will be controlled by the president himself, rather than one of his backroom team.
His wife Michelle also has a similar official account with the handle @FLOTUS - First Lady of the United States.
In an entertaining exchange, former US president Bill Clinton cheekily asked "does that username stay with the office? #AskingForAFriend", pondering aloud the future of his wife Hillary's post-election Twitter possibilities.
In response, Obama confirmed that he would be passing it on, suggestively asking Bill did he know anyone interested in the @FLOTUS account – seeing as technically the First Lady account would be passed on to Bill if his wife were to be elected.
The White House says the account will act as "a new way for President Obama to engage directly with the American people... making his Administration the most open and participatory in history".
Obama chose an image from the 50th anniversary commemoration of the bloody Selma march for civil rights as his banner image for the account.
The president follows just 65 accounts, amongst them are several Chicago sports teams and the US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, who is Irish.
As entertaining and all as this presidential pleasantry is, it's not a patch on our very own Enda Kenny baking scones on Ireland AM last week. That, surely, was off-the-cuff political PR at its finest...
