White House to hand over social media to new President

Washington, Nov 1: The White House and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) have unveiled transition plans for handing over US President Barack Obama's official social media accounts and websites to his successor.

"This digital infrastructure is an asset not just for the next president but for all future presidents to build off of. The archive belongs to the American people," said a statement on Monday.

Obama, the first sitting US president to have a significant social media presence, will hand over his @POTUS Twitter handle to the winner of the November election, political website The Hill reported. 

Other White House-affiliated accounts to be handed over, includes @WhiteHouse, @FLOTUS (used by First Lady Michelle Obama), @PressSec and the vice president's @VP.

The next president will also gain access to the @WhiteHouse Instagram account and White House Facebook page.

"From the very beginning, our mission was to reach Americans and people around the world on the channels and platforms where they already spend their time," the statement said.

Each account and page will be handed over completely blank, and content from Obama's tenure will be archived and made separately accessible.

Twitter accounts will be archived with new account names incorporating "44", Obama being the 44th US President. Obama's tweets would be accessible from @POTUS44. 

Similarly, the current White House Instagram will be archived at @ObamaWhiteHouse and the Facebook page at the URL Facebook.com/ObamaWhiteHouse.

The White House and National Archives have similar plans for the Medium, Tumblr and YouTube accounts.

According to a release from the White House, social media content will be available for the public to download on zip files in addition to being visible on the internet.

The White House will also give the next president blank versions of WhiteHouse.gov making archives of Obama's website available at ObamaWhiteHouse.gov.