Michelle Obama joins rest of the world on Twitter

The First Lady's first tweet meets with worldwide fanfare

Aw.  Isn’t this cute?  Michelle Obama sent out her first tweet this week—on a MacBook, no less!  Apparently, the White House was so moved by the First Lady’s milestone that the staff decided to commemorate it with a video and a blog post. 

In the clip, Michelle Obama is sending out her very first tweet—not from her own Twitter handle, as she doesn’t actually have one—but from the @JoiningForces handle to promote the Joining Forces initiative, which encourages Americans to recognize and support veterans and military families.

The video makes two things clear: 1) Michelle Obama has the most enviable wardrobe of any First Lady—EVER, and 2) She really has never tweeted before, made painfully clear when she asks in disbelief, “so, now I just press ‘tweet’?  Do I press this?”

The milestone is a little startling when you consider the fact that Barack Obama’s 2008 victory was largely credited to his social media savviness (a stark contrast to John McCain's "what is this Interwebs machine?!" campaign).  I’m actually surprised to learn that Michelle Obama doesn’t even have her own Twitter account.  Even Sarah Palin has a Twitter account, and she’s arguably busier than Michelle Obama these days, what with her nationwide tour to promote…nothing (now that she’s announced she’s not running for election), her reality TV show, Bristol’s stint on “Dancing With the Stars” and her book tour, and all of her other goings-on.

Politicians are increasingly jumping on the social media bandwagon.  Earlier this week, UK Prime Minister David Cameron joined Foursquare and LinkedIn.  He’s already on Twitter and Facebook, but now he can check in on Foursquare (and get nearby offers!) and network with professionals and peers on LinkedIn.

Barack Obama is also on LinkedIn, where his current position is listed as “President at United States of America.”  Description: “I am serving as the 44^th President of the United States of America.”  Sadly, no recommendations…