Obama finally gets his own @POTUS Twitter account

After sixyears ofbeing relegated to tweeting as "-bo" fromthe official @WhiteHousefeed,U.S. President Barack Obamafinally has a Twitter account of his own.

Sort of.

On Monday,Obamasent out the first ever tweet on a new verified account @POTUS from the Oval Office.

"Hello, Twitter! It's Barack. Really!" reads the message."Six years in, they're finally giving me my own account."

@POTUSis being framed as more personal than the officialWhite House account used by Obamain the past.

The account's bio reads"Dad, husband, and44thpresident of the United States," andlinks to whitehouse.gov'sonline privacy policy.

The account that bears the president's name, @BarackObama,was controlled by hiselection and re-election campaigns butnow belongs to thecommunity organizing project Organizing for Action.Obama also occasionally tweets from that account with the sign-off "-bo."

And yet, as a White House blog postindicates, Obama doesn't actually own the @POTUS account.

A White House officialconfirmed this to CNN onMonday by explaining that thehandle will transfer to the next president whenObamaleaves office in 2017.

Obama himself also made this fact clear in an exchange with former U.S. president (and, potentially, future first gentleman)Bill Clinton on Monday evening.

"Welcome to @Twitter, @POTUS!," tweeted Clinton. "One question: Does that username stay with the office? #askingforafriend."

"Good question, @billclinton," Obama replied."The handle comes with the house. Know anyone interested in @FLOTUS?"

Clinton was one of many politicians warmly welcoming the president to Twitter.

Vice President Joe Biden was one of the first to give @POTUS a shout-out on his office's account, where he signs any personal tweets with "-vp."

First Lady Michelle Obama, who joined Twitter as @FLOTUS in 2013, made a joke about how long overdue her husband's newaccount was.

While the @FLOTUS account still boasts a slightly higher number of followers than @POTUS with 1.94 million, the president is catching up fast.

In less than 24 hours and with only three tweets,he's already racked up approximately 1.83 million followers an admirable ratio for a brand new userwhofollows only 65 otheraccounts(most of thembelonging topoliticians, government departments, and Chicago sports teams.)

The buzz surrounding Obama'snew Twitter account hasprompted an ongoing streamofjokes, primarilyabout the social network itselfand how he will be using it.

Others noticed something a little bit "off" about @POTUS'tweets.

Despite the occasional rumour that Obama may soon ditch his belovedBlackberry, the president is still devoted to his specially-securedCanadian smartphone.

So why, then, were his tweets published using"Twitter for iPhone"?

Some speculated that perhaps the president had switched to an Apple device, but White House officials told The Washington Postthat hedidn't actually use his own phone to send any tweets on Monday.

The iPhone Obama was seen usingin avideo released by theWhite House Mondaybelongsto the Executive Office of the President.

Sadly for anyone hoping to chat with the presidentprivately on Twitter, White House officials also confirmed to BuzzfeedNewsthat Obama"will not engage in direct messaging."