President-Elect Joe Biden Launches New Twitter Account, Starts From Zero With No Trump Followers

By Neil P. First Posted: Jan 15, 2021 08:49 AM EST

President-elect Joe Biden launched a new Twitter account after his team found out that he might not retain all followers in the already banned @POTUS account.

(Photo : Twitter@PresElectBiden)

Joe Biden Launched New Twitter Account

President-elect Joe Biden is supposed to inherit the @POTUS Twitter account once he enters the White House. The already banned account has more than 33 million followers. It was so far the best social media account that the country's President can immediately relay information.

According to a report in CNET, the President-elect has launched the new Twitter account to make sure that Americans and residents in the country will keep updated on what is on the mind of Joe Biden before his inauguration day.

Joe Biden's team created the @PresElectBiden but was not clear when Joe Biden or his campaign team created the account. As of this time, the @PresElectBiden Twitter account has more than 7,000 followers. This means that the account had been created for not too long.

He first tweeted at around 7:15 p.m. when he launched the account and wrote "Folks -- This will be the account for my official duties as President. At 12:01 PM on January 20th, it will become @POTUS. Until then, I'll be using @JoeBiden."

Importance of Twitter for the President-Elect

Twitter is one of the leading social media platforms in the country. It can reach almost all people living in the country and will keep them updated on what is going on in the federal government including its plan. This is one major reason why President-elect needs to have his Twitter account.

His decision to create his new account comes after the company said last month that the @POTUS account under Trump's administration will not automatically retain its existing followers. That also includes the number of followers in the Presidential account.

Meanwhile, Twitter also said that they will give followers the option to follow accounts under the Biden administration. However, President-elect Joe Biden's team is not happy with Twitter's decision to not automatically transfer followers.

Digital director Rob Flaherty for Biden's presidential campaign said in a tweet in December that Twitter told Biden's transition team that "as of right now the Biden administration will have to start from zero" when the @POTUS and @WhiteHouse accounts are transferred, according to a report in CNET.

Moreover, even though Joe Biden will no longer have the almost 33 million followers from the @POTUS account, Twitter will transfer the @WhiteHouse, @VP, @FLOTUS, @PressSec, @Cabinet, and @LaCasaBlanca during his inauguration day.

Communication through the use of social media is very important nowadays most especially that the country is facing both economic and health crises. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter can reach millions of people across the globe.

This could also be the best tool for the incoming administration to inform Americans and residents in the country in giving federal government updates amid the global pandemic.