Q: What do the President, a Superhero, and a little blue bird all have in common?
A: Guinness (No, not that Guinness. Well, maybe…)
President Barack Obama finally caught up to the social media bandwagon and hopped on to join the Twitterverse Monday morning, quickly breaking the record for the fastest time to reach 1 million followers.
Guinness World Records announced the new record Tuesday in a news release.
Actor Robert Downey Jr. previously held the ‘fastest to 1 million’ record at 23 hours and 24 minutes. Obama reached his first million followers in under five hours.
While the question of his actual accomplishments — like, you know, the “hope and change” he’s been promising — are still up in the air, the president can pat himself on the back for adding another one to the record books.
In fact, this is just one of several records he holds. Obama currently holds the Guinness World Record for Most Twitter Followers for a Politician (via his @BarackObama account), Most Expensive Inauguration (2009), Most Widespread Message on Social Media in 24 hours, and Most Facebook Likes in 24 hours. Obviously only the really important stuff that matters to the American people.
The president’s new account, @POTUS — not to be confused with @BarackObama, which is an account run by Organizing for Action — is an effort for the president to “engage directly with the American people” according to a White House blog post.
Curiously enough, his first interaction via tweet with the average “American people” was none other than his buddy, former President Bill Clinton, in which they both not so subtly allude to Hillary Clinton’s quest for the White House with chummy banter.
Let’s just hope that the president doesn’t let this new record go to his head or let his tweeting cut into his work time…or rather, his tee time.
