Earlier this week, political satirist Stephen Colbert created a Twitter account for former President Bill Clinton during an event for college students involved in the Clinton Global Initiative. Colbert segued a conversation on whether young people should get involved with politics into Clinton’s social media presence, namely Twitter.
The comedian who goes by @StephenAtHome on Twitter is avid on social media, delivering daily quips to more than four million of his followers. When he prompted the ex-president to talk about his social media involvement, Clinton’s participation in the social sphere proved to be limited. Although he uses Facebook, Clinton explained he has reservations about Twitter.
“What if you tweet and nobody tweets back? There’s nothing worse than a friendless tweeter,” said Clinton.
He also recounted a quote from a speech where he admitted to being a complete novice when it comes to technology. Shocking if not for the fact that he first served in office 20 years ago, Clinton claims he sent just two emails during his term.
Colbert used humor to get Clinton to reconsider his absence on Twitter.
“Sir, I took the liberty of opening you a Twitter account,” he told Clinton during his show. “Now, President Clinton was taken. William Jefferson Clinton was taken. But PrezBillyJeff was available.”
Colbert then asked, “Would you like to break into the 21st century right now, and send your first tweet?”
And with that, a bit of presidential history followed with Clinton’s first tweet.
Clearly the former president who is popular around the world had nothing to worry about in the engagement department. His account has amassed over 35,000 followers since the first tweet. Although he did get some help from Colbert.
Source: Huffington Post
