Nicolas Sarkozy Joins Twitter for Re-Election Bid

French President Nicolas Sarkozy used his brand new Twitter account to officially announce that he would seek re-election during France's 2012 presidential race.

Yes, I am a candidate for the presidential elections, the President told his 75,000 followers in French.

The announcement came 12 hours after Sarkzoy joined the social media site on Wednesday.

Putting an end to French politics' worst-kept secret, President Nicolas Sarkozy burst into France's presidential campaign this week with a new slogan, a brand new website and Twitter account, and a busy schedule of rallies across France France 24 said of Sarkozy's proclamation. Privately held Twitter is based in San Francisco.

Compared to other politicians, Sarkozy is joining the social media fray rather late. A number of prominent world leaders already have Twitter accounts, including UK Prime Minister David Cameron, the prince of Dubai, the Dalai Lama and President Barack Obama, as well as most American lawmakers. Mexican President Felipe Calderon famously uses his Twitter account to inform his nation of the latest drug busts and crime lord arrests, and even Najib Abdul Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia, a country that has cracked down on bloggers, has an account.

However, this week Sarkozy became the first French politician to use Facebook's new Timeline profile.

Sarkozy's Facebook Timeline is extensive and exhaustive, France 24 reported.

It includes some 700 pictures that date back all the way to his birth. And while giving him a more modern look than his opponents, it is also revealing in what the president has chosen to omit from his online history.

Left off the page are photos of his visit with Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, mentions of his ex-wife Cecelia Attias and other parts of his private life, and the 2007 Dakar speech when he said that the African man has never really entered history.

The president hopes that new technology will give him the boost he needs to overtake his main opponent, the Socialist Party's Francois Hollande, who is leading Sarkozy in the polls by about four points. Notably, Hollande has more than twice as many followers as Sarkozy on Twitter, about 156,000

Sarkozy and Hollande will also face off against the conservative National Front's Marine Le Pen and Francois Bayrou of the centrist Democratic Movement.