What Happens to President Obama's Twitter Handle When He Leaves Office

The next president will inherit the @POTUS Twitter handle.

ByABC News
October 31, 2016, 5:48 PM

— -- When President Obama leaves office in January, he won't be taking the @POTUS Twitter handle with him.

The White House today announced part of its transition plans in the realm of social media. President Obama, who was the first to use the @POTUS Twitter handle, will hand over the account to the next president on Jan. 20, 2017.

The new tweeting president will start with a blank timeline -- all of Obama's tweets will be removed -- but they will still get to keep the more than 11 million followers accumulated by President Obama.

The National Archives and Records Administration has created a new handle -- @POTUS44 -- which will archive all of President Obama's tweets. They will do the same for other White House Twitter handles, including @WhiteHouse, @FLOTUS, @PressSec and @VP.

The next president will acquire President Obama's other social media handles, including Instagram and Facebook, while the president's photos and posts will be migrated to a different account.

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