US First Lady Michelle Obama quickly snapped up tens of thousands of Twitter followers when she joined the social network and opened a new front in her husband's re-election campaign.
"Hi, everyone, and thanks for the warm welcome. Look forward to staying in touch with you here," @michelleobama said in a tweet authenticated by her initials "mo."
The account will be mostly run by Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, and is similar to @BarackObama's Twitter output, which is also mostly a product of campaign staff.
Occasionally however, the president, who is often pictured with a BlackBerry or iPad, does produce a personal tweet, designated by his initials bo.
By lunchtime Thursday, just a few hours after the account's debut, @MichelleObama had garnered more than 80,000 followers on the micro-blogging site, an impressive total, but well short of her husband's following which is close to 12 million.
