Trump Gets @POTUS Account: Here's How To Keep Following Obama On Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

The Twitter handle for the president of the United States, @POTUS, has been transferred to President Donald Trump following his inauguration Friday.

As of noon, the handle had 3.62 million followers. Trump’s personal handle @realdonaldtrump is still on Twitter.

Former President Barack Obama’s Twitter handle is now @POTUS44, and all the posts he tweeted will be archived there. If you were following @POTUS while Obama was president, you and his other 13.8 million followers are now automatically following his new account @POTUS44. Obama’s account @BarackObama is also still active.

You’ll have to search @POTUS and follow that handle if you want to keep up with Trump’s tweets.

The same process goes for the Twitter accounts of former First Lady Michelle Obama and current First Lady Melania Trump. Mrs. Obama’s tweets will be archived on the @FLOTUS44 account. Mrs. Trump is now getting the official @FLOTUS handle, and had almost 20,000 followers as of noon Friday.

Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence received the official @VP Twitter handle. He had only 5,000 followers as of noon Friday. Former Vice President Joe Biden’s account was changed to @VP44.

What Happens With Facebook and Instagram?

The White House announced last year its plan for turning over Obama’s social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The move is unprecedented, since Obama was the first president to have social media accounts.

The White House’s Facebook page will belong to Trump and his staff, starting fresh. Facebook White House posts from the Obama administration will transfer to Facebook.com/ObamaWhiteHouse, while the team’s Instagram posts will switch to Instagram.com/ObamaWhiteHouse.

Obama and Biden’s Facebook pages and the Instagram accounts belonging to the First Lady and Vice President will be moved to new “44” usernames and archived by National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

A similar process will be followed with accounts on other platforms including Medium, Tumblr and YouTube, the White House said.