President Barack Obama tweets his first tweet from his new @POTUS account from the Oval Office, May 18, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson) 
 
 Today, with a tweet from the Oval Office, President Obama launched @POTUS, the official Twitter account of the President of the United States. 
 
 Hello, Twitter! It's Barack. Really! Six years in, they're finally giving me my own account. — President Obama (@POTUS) May 18, 2015 
 
 The @POTUS Twitter account will serve as a new way for President Obama to engage directly with the American people, with tweets coming exclusively from him. 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. 
 
 Looking for more ways to engage with the White House on Twitter? Be sure to check out all of our official accounts: 
 
 The White House: @WhiteHouse 
 
 Vice President Joe Biden: @VP 
 
 First Lady Michelle Obama: @FLOTUS 
 
 Dr. Jill Biden: @DrBiden 
 
 Live coverage from the White House: @WHLive 
 
 Press Secretary Josh Earnest: @PressSec 
 
 Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett: @VJ44 
 
 Communications Director Jen Psaki: @Psaki44 
 
 White House updates in Spanish: @LaCasaBlanca 
 
 Chief Official White House Photographer: @PeteSouza 
 
 You can find a full list of official White House Twitter accounts here. ||||| President Obama using his BlackBerry, in 2010 
 
 UPDATE: Tuesday May 19, 2015, 4pm EST: Mother Jones can reveal that the former owner of @POTUS is Steve D'Alimonte, 33, a freelance multimedia producer living in Toronto. In 2008, "I was super into the West Wing," D'Alimonte said via phone from Canada. He joined Twitter at a time when "everything was available", he said, but he ended up using it "more as a voyeur" than as an active user. 
 
 That was until 2011, when D'Alimonte realized he should use his real name on Twitter so potential employers could find him, so he switched handle to @stevedalimonte. D'Alimonte says that's when he tried to to claim back his @POTUS account, which he had let lapse, but he wasn't allowed to get it back. (Twitter reclaims dormant accounts). And then? "I didn't think about it again until yesterday," he said. D'Alimonte sent Mother Jones several emails confirming the identity of his Twitter account from 2008 and 2009. Twitter did not respond to emailed questions about the account. 
 
 And the "Roy" from D'Alimonte's first tweet? That's his "early adopter" friend Roy Abraham (known online as "Roy Marvelous"), a New Zealander and avid social media guru currently living in Vancouver, who recommended that D'Alimonte get on Twitter early. 
 
 Here's my original article: 
 
 A social-media frenzy greeted President Barack Obama's announcement on Monday that he had "finally" joined Twitter with a verified @POTUS Twitter account. Of course, the president has long used the official @barackobama handle, run by his political group Organizing for Action (followers: 59.3 million), with the sign-off "-bo." But what was new, we were told, is that this account will be pure Barack Obama—a personal account, all his own. The White House says the president "launched" the @POTUS account from the Oval Office: 
 
 Hello, Twitter! It's Barack. Really! Six years in, they're finally giving me my own account. — President Obama (@POTUS) May 18, 2015 
 
 By the end of Monday, that tweet had been shared and favorited hundreds of thousands of times, and generated hundreds of news articles welcoming the "Tweeter-in-Chief." 
 
 But it turns out that this is not the first tweet sent from the @POTUS Twitter account, according to the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. The first tweet preserved in the archive from the @POTUS account is a mysterious message about someone named "Roy": 
 
 According to the tweet's time stamp, it was sent on March 11, 2008. It reads: "wondering what Roy got me into now." Twitter started in 2006. This tweet was sent while George W. Bush was still in office. 
 
 At the time, the @POTUS account only had one follower. The archive has not preserved who that solitary follower was, but @POTUS was soon to gather another three: By the end of January 2009, @POTUS was broadcasting to four followers. 
 
 But then, sometime between 2009 and September 2013, the account went silent, and was locked down to outside viewers. This message appeared in various languages across the archive's 37 "captures" (as of Monday night). In English: "Only confirmed followers have access to @POTUS's Tweets and complete profile." Click the "Follow" button to send a follow request." 
 
 Who is Roy? And what mischief did he create for @POTUS? We may never know. But in the meantime, Mother Jones has reached out to the White House with a variety of questions, including: 
 
 Who owned and ran the @POTUS Twitter account prior to the White House? When did the White House come into possession of the account? Did any money change hands to get the account? Was Twitter involved in ensuring access to the account? Who is Roy? 
 
 We will update this post when we hear back. ||||| President Obama sent out his first tweet today from @POTUS, an account that has already racked up 1.15 million followers in less than seven hours. 
 
 Hello, Twitter! It's Barack. Really! Six years in, they're finally giving me my own account. — President Obama (@POTUS) May 18, 2015 
 
 Obama received a warm welcome from many on Twitter, including former President Bill Clinton (who follows 10 people, including Hillary Clinton, but not yet Obama). 
 
 Welcome to @Twitter, @POTUS! One question: Does that username stay with the office? #askingforafriend — Bill Clinton (@billclinton) May 18, 2015 
 
 Obama’s response (and third tweet from the account) was perfect. 
 
 Good question, @billclinton. The handle comes with the house. Know anyone interested in @FLOTUS? — President Obama (@POTUS) May 18, 2015 
 
 If Hillary Clinton wins the White House, the fate of the @FLOTUS Twitter account is unclear; after all, it’s not yet been determined what a female president’s husband would be called. It is possible to change Twitter usernames without affecting existing followers, direct messages or @replies. 
 
 Bill Clinton has weighed in with one suggestion. 
 
 “My Scottish friends say I should be called ‘first laddie’ because it’s the closest thing to ‘first lady,’ ” he said in a 2007 interview with Oprah Winfrey. “I’m not so worried about what I’m called as what I’m called upon to do.” 
 
 More from MarketWatch ||||| Earlier today, the President of the United States and the holder of the highest office in the land, Barack Obama, debuted the first, official Twitter account run by the President and the President alone. Because of how the internet works, hundreds of people immediately asked the President to please sit on my face, daddy. And because of how the Presidential Records Act works, every single one of those tweets, from “spank me” to “fist me,” is getting filed away in the official White House archives. 
 
 From the White House Online Privacy Policy: 
 
 On Twitter, the White House automatically archives “tweets” from official White House accounts, “direct messages” sent to or from official White House accounts, and “mentions” (tweets from other users to official White House accounts; these tweets contain an @ and the username of an official White House account (e.g., @WhiteHouse). 
 
 In other words, for the sole purpose of complying with the Presidential Records Act, the White House will be archiving Twitter user “shithead”’s request that President Obama, Michelle Obama, and former President Bill Clinton all “slay him.” Along with every one of these. 
 
 
 
 @POTUS FIST ME DADDY I WANT U TO MAKE ME YOUR BITCH JUST SPUNK IN MY EYE AND MAKE ME CHOKE ON UR DICK May 18, 2015 
 
 .@POTUS fuck me in the ass May 18, 2015 
 
 Congratulations, kids. We’ll see you in the Library of Congress. ||||| One of the most emotional moments of President Obama's farewell address in Chicago Tuesday night was when he turned his attention to the first lady, professing his love and admiration for his wife of 24 years. 
 
 Interested in Michelle Obama? Add Michelle Obama as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Michelle Obama news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add Interest 
 
 Following his address, the first lady took to Twitter to express a similar sentiment, posting a black-and-white photo of the Obamas with daughters Malia and Sasha waiting for the results of his senate bid on election night 2004. "So proud of @POTUS and all that we've accomplished together," the first lady wrote. "An incredible journey filled with remarkable people. I love you Barack. -mo" 
 
 So proud of @POTUS and all that we've accomplished together. An incredible journey filled with remarkable people. I love you Barack. -mo pic.twitter.com/TFUN3GDLyz — The First Lady (@FLOTUS) January 11, 2017 
 
 Both the president and the first lady were noticeably emotional when the subject came to their relationship. 
 
 "Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, girl of the south side, for the past twenty-five years, you’ve been not only my wife and mother of my children, you have been my best friend," the president said to the first lady, who was seated next to Malia, 18. (A White House official tells ABC News that Sasha remained in Washington because she has an exam at school Wednesday morning). 
 
 The president continued, "You took on a role you didn’t ask for and made it your own with grace and grit and style and good humor. You made the White House a place that belongs to everybody. And a new generation sets its sights higher because it has you as a role model. So you have made me proud. And you have made the country proud." 
 
 POTUS breaks down in tears when talking about FLOTUS: "You've not only been my wife and mother of my children, you've been my best friend." pic.twitter.com/7QCDjPWDFk — ABC News (@ABC) January 11, 2017 
 
 And addressing his daughters, he said, "Malia and Sasha, under the strangest of circumstances, you have become two amazing young women, smart and beautiful, but more importantly, kind and thoughtful and full of passion. You wore the burden of years in the spotlight so easily. Of all that I’ve done in my life, I’m most proud to be your dad." 
 
 Pres. Obama to daughters Malia and Sasha: "Of all that I have done in my life, I’m most proud to be your dad." https://t.co/dS8XgbuhUB pic.twitter.com/nrkqmC8hLz — ABC News (@ABC) January 11, 2017 
 
 ABC News' Jordyn Phelps contributed to this report. ||||| WASHINGTON — When President Obama sent his inaugural Twitter post from the Oval Office on Monday, the White House heralded the event with fanfare, posting a photograph of him perched on his desk tapping out his message on an iPhone. 
 
 The @POTUS account — named for the in-house acronym derived from “President of the United States” — would “serve as a new way for President Obama to engage directly with the American people, with tweets coming exclusively from him,” a White House aide wrote that day. 
 
 But it took only a few minutes for Mr. Obama’s account to attract racist, hate-filled posts and replies. They addressed him with racial slurs and called him a monkey. One had an image of the president with his neck in a noose. 
 
 The posts reflected the racial hostility toward the nation’s first black president that has long been expressed in stark terms on the Internet, where conspiracy theories thrive and prejudices find ready outlets. But the racist Twitter posts are different because now that Mr. Obama has his own account, the slurs are addressed directly to him, for all to see.
– President Obama has officially entered the 21st century: He has his very own Twitter account, @POTUS. As of this writing, there's only one tweet on it: "Hello, Twitter! It's Barack. Really! Six years in, they're finally giving me my own account." As for the bio section of the account, it describes him as a father first: "Dad, husband, and 44th President of the United States." Meanwhile, @WhiteHouse features a picture of Obama with his phone, captioned: "President Obama. In the Oval Office. Tweeting." He's also been welcomed to Twitter by his wife and his VP, among others. The White House says the account "will serve as a new way for President Obama to engage directly with the American people, with tweets coming exclusively from him."