22:49

For the next president of the United States, the Oval Office will come with more than 11m Twitter followers.



Barack Obama was the first US president to be on the platform, drawing 11.1m followers to the verified @POTUS account since signing up in May 2015.

The next president will take over the handle on Inauguration Day, 20 January 2017, but the slate will be wiped clean of tweets.

Obama’s 317 posts will be archived at a newly created handle, @POTUS44, by the National Archives and Records Administration.

The same will happen with Obama’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, along with other presences on Twitter, such as Michelle Obama’s @FLOTUS, Joe Biden’s @VP, @WhiteHouse and @PressSec.

The @POTUS Twitter account will only be “made available” to the next president, suggesting the successful candidate could choose to continue using their existing handle.

Both presidential candidates already have huge followings on Twitter, with Hillary Clinton followed by 10.1m people at @HillaryClinton and Donald Trump 12.8m at @realDonaldTrump – nearly 2m more than the @POTUS account.