President Donald Trump has been an active member of Twitter since he joined in March 2009. Tweeting from @realDonaldTrump, Trump currently has 22.6 million followers.

Former President Barack Obama was the first president to use Twitter as a form of communication to the public. The first POTUS Twitter account was created during Obama’s second term as president.

The POTUS Twitter handle was passed down to Trump after his inauguration on Jan. 20 and racked up over 14 million followers in the first 48 hours.

The same process occurred with the FLOTUS Twitter handle, with first lady Melania Trump inheriting the FLOTUS account from former first lady Michelle Obama.

Since being inaugurated, Trump has been using both of his Twitter accounts to spread news and political decisions. The most distinct difference between the two accounts is that tweets coming from @POTUS are written by the White House director of social media, Dan Scavino Jr.

Tweets coming from @realDonaldTrump are directly from Trump.

Trump began his Twitter account by sending out tweets promoting his various businesses and promotional stops. According to politico.com, Trump didn’t begin using his account for political reasons until 2011, when he began tweeting about his disapproval with former President Barack Obama.

When Obama won his second term as president, Trump tweeted, “We can’t let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!”

From then on, Trump became even more politically active on Twitter, speaking about issues that he was passionate about and racking up more followers. This led to his announcement on June 16, 2015, saying he would run in the 2016 election.

Trump has been scrutinized in the past because of his tweets against the Obama administration. But scrutiny increased after his presidential campaign began in 2015 and continued after he was declared the winner of the 2016 election.

The reason for the continued scrutiny differs. National Public Radio reported in November 2016 that Trump was the only president-elect in recent history to not hold a press conference within the first few days of being elected.

Going against tradition, Trump instead addressed the public via social media and televised interviews.

Trump told CBS’s 60 Minutes on Nov. 13 that Twitter is his method of “fighting back” against news stories written about him that he thinks are negative.

But Trump went on to say that once inaugurated, he would be very “restrained” in his Twitter usage.

Some have dubbed Trump the “Commander-In-Tweet,” arguing that a president’s Twitter should be used strictly for announcements, not for explaining the ins and outs of policy issues.

After the election, Trump sent out tweets from @realDonaldTrump every time he spoke to a leader of a foreign country, before his team could send out an official press release.

The tweet that gained the most controversy post-election was sent out Dec. 2. Trump tweeted that the president of Taiwan had called him to congratulate him on winning the election.

The controversy stemmed from a long-standing agreement between the United States and China. In 1979, America recognized the Beijing government of China over Taiwan’s. No former president since spoke to the leader of Taiwan since that recognition — until Trump.

Another reason for the scrutiny is the safety concern that comes along with any social media account. Despite precautions, the president’s personal and presidential account could be a high target for hacking.

CNBC reported that big names and corporations have been hacked in the past, ranging from Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Dorsey said he has “complicated” feelings about Trump’s rise on Twitter.

Speaking at the Code Commerce Conference, Dorsey said on Dec. 7 that “having the president-elect on our service […] allows everyone to see what’s on his mind in the moment. […] I think it’s fascinating.”

Twitter has been known to have little tolerance for hate speech and has banned members because of their rhetoric.

“… [that] type of conduct threatens human dignity, which we should all stand together to protect,” Twitter said in a statement in mid-November.

Since being inaugurated, Trump has sent out tweets from @realDonaldTrump about investigations he plans to attend to, meetings with foreign leaders and his approval, or disapproval, of different news outlets.

A poll by NBC and the Wall Street Journal on Jan. 18 found that 69 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s Twitter usage and want him to cut back.

Proving to be a bipartisan issue, only 8 percent of Democrats approve of Trump’s Twitter, while Republicans are split down the middle; 47 percent approve and 53 percent disapprove.

You can follow Trump at https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump and https://twitter.com/potus.