POTUS Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States on 20th January. The Twitter accounts of Biden, as well as other social media and the government representatives’, went through a significant transition on Wednesday.
The transition of Twitter accounts certainly took the internet by storm as Biden’s account @Transition46 transformed into @WhiteHouse, and another account @PresElectBiden changed into @POTUS. Not only the President but all of his team and government representatives also changed their accounts. The account of Vice President Kamala Harris became @VP from her old account of @SenKamalaHarris. Other changed accounts include @FLOTUS for Dr. Jill Biden and @PressSec for Jen Psaki. A new account, @SecondGentleman, is created for Doug Emhoff, Harris’s husband.
The Importance Of POTUS Account’s Transition
According to political science and computer science professor David Lazer, this social media transition suggests a symbolic meaning. He added that Twitter’s centrality towards Trump made this transition even more significant.
The ex-president Donald Trump used his Twitter account, @realdonaldtrump, to a great extent. His posts from his official Twitter account, White House account & POTUS have been used for various reasons. From making major policy announcements to firing staff and attacking critics, Trump has used Twitter as a great way to make the public connection. But after the violence at the Capitol, Trump’s account was suspended by Twitter. Many have accused him of spreading misinformation on the platform too.
The transition in the Twitter accounts of President Biden and his administration is certainly drawing the attention of the public. Twitter users who followed the previous White House accounts or “relevant” accounts of Biden and Harris are getting notifications about the new accounts. The Biden camp has criticized the decision calling it unnecessary politicization of just another account transfer. Facebook and Instagram have also changed the accounts as POTUS and FLOTUS. On the other hand, Snapchat and Youtube have not made any account transformation.
