Bye-bye Obama, hello Donald Trump: But what happens to @POTUS Twitter account after inauguration?

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As Donald Trump prepares for his inauguration as the 45th President of the United States he will also take over the 13.6m followers of the @POTUS Twitter account.

The first ever Presidential Twitter account was set up in May 2015, with a typically amusing message:

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

And Obama led the way as the first President of the social media age, with several other online firsts too: a Snapchat filter, Facebook live video, and answering questions on YouTube.

But, the Twiiter slate will be wiped clean tomorrow, turning back to a zero Tweets count, as Trump moves to the White House. So, what happens to all that @POTUS Twitter chatter? And @Flotus for that matter?

All the tweets will reside at a new handle, @POTUS44, and for the First Lady, @FLOTUS44 as the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) step in to preserve all the digital material created during Obama's presidency, revealed one of the White House digital team.

The same 44 (signalling the 44th Presidency) will also be attached to accounts for @PressSec, @VP, @WhiteHouse, and the other accounts associated with the administration. Instagram and Facebook posts will also be archived, switching to the 44 name add on for individuals, and ObamaWhiteHouse.

This spring clean will make way for the new administration who, much like picking up the keys to a new home, will be given the passwords to social media accounts, which will also include Medium, Tumblr and YouTube.

That means, we'll still be able to reminisce about gems such as the Obamas and the Royal family having a spat over the Invictus games.

Among @POTUS' top tweets, other than his first, are ones about gay marriage becoming legal and a boy who was arrested for carrying a homemade clock which authorities thought suspicious.

And among his funniest, weighing in on the debate about adding peas to Guacamole, and chatting with Michael J Fox (the actor's reply is one of only three Tweets Obama has liked).

As for Trump, he'll get those 13.7m followers automatically, though he may feel short changed compared to his own following of 20.4m. He will carry on using his own account and won't be tweeting personally from the @POTUS account.

And for anyone wanting to keep up with the Obama, he'll be tweeting to his 80.7m followers via @BarackObama.

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