@MichelleObama An exclusive look at how the First Lady mastered social media By Kwame Opam • Photography by James Bareham

The First Lady needed a turnip. By the fall of 2014, "Turn Down for What," Lil Jon and DJ Snake’s triple-platinum trap-meets-EDM single, had swallowed pop culture whole. Jimmy Fallon and Robin Wright were dancing to it on The Tonight Show; Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum posed while it blared on the soundtrack of 22 Jump Street; across YouTube, teens and kittens bobbed their heads along. Spin called it "an undeniable force."

And then Michelle Obama joined the party. That October, Mrs. Obama held a Vine Q&A for her Let’s Move! initiative, calling on kids and their families to send in video questions about healthy eating, cooking, and gardening. Over the course of five days, she answered a series of family-friendly queries ranging from "What’s your favorite fall vegetable?" (sweet potato) to "What’s your favorite food memory?" (getting pizza as a reward for good grades). It was cute, but not especially memorable. Then, YouTube star and President Obama impersonator Iman "Alphacat" Crosson chimed in. "On average," he asked the First Lady in his best Obama baritone, "how many calories do you burn every time you turn up?" Mrs. Obama’s team seized the opportunity. The next day, members of the White House’s Office of Digital Strategy and Joanna Rosholm, the First Lady’s press secretary, suggested a riff on "Turn Down for What." Rosholm called down to the kitchen: was there a turnip in the White House? Mrs. Obama got the joke right away. "I know who Lil Jon is," she tells The Verge. "My kids are singing it. I got it immediately, and I was like, ‘Okay, that could be cute.’"

Within minutes of seeing Crosson’s vine, the First Lady was in FDR’s Map Room, filming her response. "Turnip — for what," she deadpanned into the camera, a glorious purple and white root vegetable in hand. The bass dropped and Mrs. Obama closed her eyes, bouncing to the beat. Simple and self-consciously silly, the Vine racked up more than six million views in a single day. The headlines were effusive: "Michelle Obama Makes Best Vine Ever for ‘Turnip For What’" wrote Jezebel. "Best Vine Ever" cried Us Weekly. For decades, social initiatives have been a mainstay of the First Lady’s office: for Lady Bird Johnson, it was the environment; for former librarian Laura Bush, literacy. Over the last seven years, Mrs. Obama has focused on four major initiatives: Reach Higher, for teens pursuing higher learning; Let’s Move!, to fight childhood obesity; Let Girls Learn, for educating women and girls around the world; and Joining Forces, for aiding veterans and their families. But Mrs. Obama’s tenure also coincided with the rise of social media: during the Obama presidency, Twitter went from upstart to global newswire; Facebook now counts over 1.5 billion users; and Instagram and Snapchat — platforms that didn’t exist a decade ago — dominate pop culture. With a click of an iPhone, Mrs. Obama can now reach audiences Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Bush could only have dreamed of. "People can get to know me directly. They can see that I’m kind of silly sometimes, that I care." "[Social media] bypasses the middle man," Mrs. Obama says. "People can get to know me directly. They can see that I’m kind of silly sometimes, that I care. They can feel the passion, [and] they don’t have to have it filtered through another source. And young people in particular like that." "We knew long ago [that] any time we’re doing any sort of communications for the First Lady there needs to be a digital component," says Caroline Adler, the First Lady’s communications director. "Increasingly, there’s no real way to connect directly with audiences except digitally." Outside experts speak highly of the First Lady’s efforts. "She’s really mastered the medium," says Michelle Barna-Stern, VP of social marketing at digital ad firm 360i. "She’s personable. She’s accessible. She’s authentic, relatable. And she also has such a great sense of humor." But social media is a double-edged sword: one tone-deaf tweet, poorly-timed Vine, or thoughtless Facebook post can spell embarrassment. That’s unlikely with the in-house social media task force Mrs. Obama has built: a close-knit collection of strategists, initiative directors, and managers who work to craft a digital portrait of a First Lady at once cool, caring, and in touch. A First Lady who can turn up with a turnip and make the country swoon, but still advance serious initiatives.

Re-center

It’s a little-known fact that the First Lady’s office doesn’t have any Congressional authority or any independent funding," says Adler. "We got nothing!" adds Mrs. Obama, cracking the room up. It’s mid-January, and a large team from The Verge is at the White House filming the first ever 360-degree video interview with the First Lady and getting a glimpse into her social media hit factory. Mrs. Obama is swarmed by stylists, staffers, and countless camera operators. Amid the chaos she is warm and funny, playfully ribbing her staff and poking fun at The Verge delegation. The Obamas are "uniquely able to be authentic, in a bunch of new ways and through a bunch of new channels." After the interview, I shake hands with the First Lady, introducing myself as the writer who has been meeting with her staff. "Hopefully everyone behaved themselves!" she says, throwing an eye around the room. We’d arranged for a shot with several younger staffers taking selfies with the First Lady, and the atmosphere is lively as people crowd around the monitors to take a look. "Almost!" I joke. "Alright, we’ll take names later," she quips back with obvious affection for her team. The room breaks into laughter once again. George W. Bush was the president you could get a beer with, but no one accused him or Laura of being cool. Bill Clinton was personable, but his cool ended at playing the sax. Hillary’s cool is detached and technocratic, raw power wielding a Blackberry behind sunglasses on a private jet. But the Obamas are different: the president reportedly texts with Jay Z and calls private meetings with Kendrick Lamar — his favorite rapper — in the Oval Office; the First Lady counts Beyoncé as a personal friend, and isn’t afraid to show off some Mom Dances on The Tonight Show. Kyle Lierman, the White House’s associate director of public engagement, says the Obamas are "uniquely able to be authentic, in a bunch of new ways and through a bunch of new channels." The Obamas’ charisma in front of crowds and cameras makes them natural ambassadors to a younger generation. And their two young daughters Sasha and Malia give them insight into what resonates — and more importantly, what doesn’t. "I’ve got two Gen Zers living under my roof," says Mrs. Obama. "They don’t think we’re cool at all. But I know what they’re watching on Vine, and I know what they’re giggling about." When President Obama was a guest on Zach Galifianakis’ Between Two Ferns to promote the Affordable Care Act — the first time a sitting president appeared in an online series — even Sasha and Malia were impressed. When President Obama was a guest on Between Two Ferns, even Sasha and Malia were impressed "We’re talking at the dinner table about his day," says Mrs. Obama, drawing the scene. "Maybe he talked to Putin, maybe he’s talking about a nuclear deal. But the minute he said, ‘Yeah, and I taped this thing Between Two Ferns,’ Malia was like, ‘What?’ The conversation stopped." "This generation, they’re looking for authenticity, they’re looking for what feels real and natural," Mrs. Obama went on. "We know we have to meet young people where they are — they’re not watching the nightly news, they’re not watching the Sunday morning shows, they’re not reading the newspapers. They’re on their phones." The shift to digital communication has been a boon for an office with a limited budget: Mrs. Obama’s team can now reach millions of young people at almost no cost and sidestep time-intensive bureaucracy. "We have to be very entrepreneurial, find opportunities and amplify them with surprisingly limited resources," observes Adler. "It’s a lot like a startup." A Harvard grad who previously worked for the State Department under Hillary Clinton, Adler is poised and professional, always ready to expand on Mrs. Obama’s points. That quickly becomes a theme as I talk with the staff: the First Lady sets the goals and has the natural charisma to connect to her audience, but it’s the team that does the hard work of developing strategy, coming up with ideas, and vetting some out-there pitches.