(CNN) It was just after lunchtime the day after Barack Obama won re-election, and Donald Trump was about to try out a new line on Twitter.

He was hardly a novice on the microblogging site. Since @RealDonaldTrump announced itself to the world in 2009 with a plug to watch Trump read David Letterman's Top Ten List, he had sent thousands of tweets -- to promote his brands, roast celebrities and build a steady following with musings like "You never see a thin person drinking Diet Coke."

One constant among the 140-character bursts were hints of his political ambition.

"THe (sic) people at shouldtrumprun.com have got it right! How are our factories supposed to compete with China and other countries..." was one of the first tweets Trump sent with his own hands (and it failed to mention that shouldtrumprun.com was created by his own lawyer).

Peter Costanzo, a digital marketer with Trump's publishing company, ran his account for the first eight months, often posting aspirational quotes pulled from the billionaire's books. But when Trump took over, the feed became noticeably more aggressive.

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