Digital heritage
Barack Obama is leaving his successor a precious digital legacy: the president's Twitter account, which now has around eleven million subscribers.
The account is to be placed under the control of the new incumbent on the day he takes office on Jan. 20, 2017, the White House announced Monday in Washington. Communications on the Twitter account, which was launched in May 2015, will be preserved for posterity in the National Archives.
The White House presented a plan for the "handover of office in the digital age" for the first time on Monday. Included are considerations for the further handling of the U.S. president's digital channels, which were first established under Obama - including accounts on Facebook, Flickr, Vimeo, Instagram, Itunes, MySpace (sic!) and Snapchat. They, too, are to be shared.
"This digital infrastructure is an asset that the next president and all successors will be able to build on," said Obama's digital advisor Kori Schulman.
On Twitter, Obama has sent around 300 messages since 2015 using the account @POTUS. The abbreviation stands for "President of the United States". Similar to Obama's Twitter account, the accounts of the first lady - @FLOTUS - and the vice president - @VP - are to be handled. (SDA/hae)
