President Obama launches own Twitter feed, hits 1 million followers

WASHINGTON (WLS) -- After six years of guest starring on the White House Twitter feed, the president finally has his own account.

Since his inauguration, President Barack Obama has contributed to the @WhiteHouse Twitter feed by signing the tweets he wrote as "bo" - but that ends today with the launch of @POTUS.

"Hello, Twitter! It's Barack. Really! Six years in, they're finally giving me my own account," he tweeted around 10:40 a.m. Central Time Monday.

The White House says the first tweet was sent from the Oval Office. Among the 65 accounts the president is currently following are four of Chicago's five sports teams - the Bulls, Bears, Blackhawks and White Sox.

"The @POTUS Twitter account will serve as a new way for President Obama to engage directly with the American people, with tweets coming exclusively from him," the White House blog says. "President Obama is committed to making his Administration the most open and participatory in history, and @POTUS will give Americans a new venue to engage on the issues that matter most to them."

Interestingly enough, vice president Joe Biden has had his own Twitter account @VP since June of 2011. First Lady Michelle Obama has had her account at @FLOTUS since January of 2013.

Around 4:30 p.m. on Monday, the president's twitter account reached 1 million followers. Still, he's got a bit to go before he reaches the 1.85 million followers his wife has. President Obama's first tweet was retweeted more than 140,000 times.

A Twitter handle @BarackObama also operates with help from the president, but is overseen by the Organizing for Action group, running similar "-bo" contributions from Obama, just like the @WhiteHouse account.