Obama joins Twitter

President Obama now has a personal Twitter account.

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

— President Obama (@POTUS) May 18, 2015

His header image is a photo from the 50th anniversary of the voting rights march in Selma, Ala.

Former White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer hailed the account as indicative of a major shift in presidential communications.

This is a much bigger deal than it may seem. Changing how President’s will communicate for the foreseeable future https://t.co/zntfABtw8l

— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) May 18, 2015

Obama joins the first lady and Vice President Biden on the social media platform, both of whom have had accounts since 2011.

The creation of the (already verified) page adds to the arsenal of Obama-linked Twitter accounts. There is also an account in his name but run by political group Organizing for Action and a separate account for the White House.

Obama is following the three colleges he attended: Occidental College, Columbia University and Harvard, where he went to law school. He’s also following Chicago sports teams, administration officials and two of his predecessors: George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

The president is not following Hillary Clinton, or anyone else currently running for office.

“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,” the White House said in a blog post.

— This report was updated at 12:12 p.m.