Obama tweets for first time

President Barack Obama has “pushed the button”
to send his first-ever tweet during a visit to the D.C. offices for the
American Red Cross.

Obama used the relief organization’s
page to tweet: tweeted:
“President Obama and the First Lady are here visiting our disaster
operation center right now.”

The next tweet read, “President Obama pushed the button on the last tweet.
It was his first ever tweet!”

It was the first time that the president who made history using social media during
the 2008 election had personally used the technology.

While both the White House and the
president’s campaign have Twitter accounts (with extensive lists of followers,
no less), those accounts are managed and written by staff — something the
president has in common with a majority of officials who are on
Twitter.

Obama remarked on the occasion, according to several reporters who witnessed
the act.

“I just tweeted. The first time I tweeted,” Obama said, noting as well
that the Red Cross had raised $21 million through Twitter to send relief to
earthquake-stricken Haiti. 

Michael O’Brien contributed to this report.