On May 1, 2009, the White House becomes the first official Twitter account of a sitting President. It was followed shortly after by the Rwandan President Paul Kagame (May 15, 2009) and the South African Presidency (May 18, 2009):
Welcome to the official Twitter page for the White House!
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 1, 2009
On November 12, 2009, then Mexican Ambassador in Washington Arturo Sarukhan becomes the first foreign Ambassador in the US Capital to use Twitter on an official capacity:
Great to be the 1st Ambassador to the U.S. with a personal Twitter account; a good way to talk directly to America about Mexico!
— Arturo Sarukhan (@Arturo_Sarukhan) November 12, 2009
On May 25, 2011, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt contact his counterpart Khalid Al Khalifa of Bahrain via Twitter, as he was unable to reach him otherwise using traditional means of communication. The following day, Al Khalifa replies to Bildt via Twitter:
@carlbildt nice to hear from you to catch up on matters .. Your tweet caught the world’s interest
— Khalid Alkhalifa (@khalidalkhalifa) May 26, 2011
US President Barack Obama’s first tweet on the @whitehouse profile, from “Laptop One,” as some journalists referred to the laptop Obama used during the first White House live Twitter Townhall hosted by Jack Dorsey, was sent on July 6, 2011. It was the first Twitter Townhall by a sitting president:
in order to reduce the deficit,what costs would you cut and what investments would you keep – bo
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 6, 2011
The first Ambassador to use Twitter from behind closed doors at the United Nations Security Council, on February 4, 2012, then US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice tweets addressing the position of China and Russia on Syria:
Disgusted that Russia and China prevented the #UN Security Council from fulfilling its sole purpose.
— Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) February 4, 2012
On February 6, 2012, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reacts to Ambassador Rice’s tweets via the Twitter handle of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
S. Lavrov: Certain Western states are trying to obscure the developments with hysterical statements on Russia’s veto of the Syria resolution
— MFA Russia (@mfa_russia) February 6, 2012
On June 21, 2012, French News Agency Agence France Press launches the first ever Twitter-based portal on digital diplomacy:
#Twitter-based #AFP Web tool opens window to digital #diplomacy http://t.co/b6V1VGqg
— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) June 22, 2012
On July 26, 2012, global public relations firm Burson-Marsteller launches the first Twiplomacy study on the use of Twitter by world leaders (BM later created the @Twiplomacy handle):
B-M’s #Twiplomacy study finds almost two-thirds of world leaders are on Twitter– but how connected are they really? http://t.co/v0vXOl9c
— Burson-Marsteller (@B_M) July 26, 2012
On September 13, 2012, the US Embassy in Cairo starts a back-and-forth Twitter conversation with the official English account of the Muslim Brotherhood:
.@ikhwanweb Thanks. By the way, have you checked out your own Arabic feeds? I hope you know we read those too.
— US Embassy Cairo (@USEmbassyCairo) September 13, 2012
On June 10, 2013, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton opens her Twitter handle:
Thanks for the inspiration @ASmith83 @Sllambe – I’ll take it from here… #tweetsfromhillary
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 10, 2013
After almost three years of Twitter silence, on September 27, 2013, Brasilian President Dilma Roussef is back on Twitter:
.@diImabr Bom dia linda maravilhosa,sempre acompanhei vc.Mas não me dê bom dia.Mas me dê bons resultados.
— Dilma Rousseff (@dilmabr) September 27, 2013
On October 1, 2013, Twitter’s founder Jack Dorsey engages with Iran Foreign Minister Hassan Rouhani on net freedom in Iran:
Evening, @Jack. As I told @camanpour, my efforts geared 2 ensure my ppl’ll comfortably b able 2 access all info globally as is their #right.
— Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) October 1, 2013
