Why Obama stole from Robert Downey Jr.

It's not often that you would see Barack Obama and Robert Downey Jr. competing for the same award.  

But this week, President Obama ousted Downey Jr. for a world record!

According to Guinness World Records, Obama - who signed up for his own Twitter handle (@POTUS) on Monday - is officially the fastest account to reach 1 million followers.  The presidential account managed to rack up these numbers in under 5 hours, blowing away Robert Downey Jr.'s time of 24 hours set in April 2014.  

If you are anything like me, you might be thinking, "Wait a minute, I thought Obama was already ON Twitter!?"  Well, according to the White House, all other Twitter handles that he has used in the past (@WhiteHouse and @BarackObama) are managed by staffers.  This new account will have tweets exclusively from Mr. President himself.  

From a branding perspective, it seems to make more sense for his PERSONAL account (@BarackObama) to make the exclusively authentic tweets.  But, who am I to argue with the Leader of the Free World!?  That is, of course, unless he is in the market for a new Social Media Adviser! (Call me, Barack!)

Since @POTUS has joined Twitter, he's posted almost every day.  My favorite entry is below, with reply to a tongue-in-cheek question from Bill Clinton.  I personally find the exchange hilarious and hope for more of these conversations!

Are you following any of these presidential handles?  Do you think the new account is necessary or just more government redundancy!?

Get Ready, Twitter! Here Comes Hillary!

Is it really starting already? I feel like I was JUST posting about politics on social media and how cool it was that candidates were using different media because I was tired of ads.

And while I still think it’s cool, we JUST got done!

Nevertheless, Twitter has been abuzz with rumors that former Secretary of State - and possible 2016 presidential candidate - Hillary Clinton will soon be taking political aim on Twitter. Not surprising, really, after the success Barack Obama had in garnering support through social media. But, come on. It's May 2013. I guess you can't blame them for creating buzz!

 

It's not official yet, of course, but reports are already out on USA Today and Politico. And the reported handle, @hillaryclinton, currently shows protected tweets, just baiting us even more!

 

It was just over a month ago that her husband, Bill Clinton, joined Twitter- but with much less fanfare. Currently, @billclinton has totaled 26 tweets. Let's hope that all the ruckus about Hillary's handle amounts to more than that!

 

So, what do you think, are you ready for 2016 campaigning to start?