Hillary Clinton's big splash on Twitter: By the numbers

Hillary Clinton set off a fresh round of speculation about her political plans this week when she made her debut on Twitter. In her first post, the former first lady, senator, and secretary of State thanked Adam Smith and Stacy Lambe — the creators of the "Texts from Hillary" Tumblr that went viral last year — for inspiring her foray into social media. "Thanks for the inspiration..." she wrote. "I'll take it from here." Her account promptly received a flood of followers. Here, a look at Clinton's viral success on Twitter, by the numbers:

1

Tweets Hillary Clinton had posted as of Wednesday night, more than two full days after she made her debut.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

13

List of accomplishments Clinton included in her Twitter bio, which admirers praised as a masterpiece, both for its brevity and broad political appeal. Clinton said she was a "wife, mom, lawyer, women & kids advocate, FLOAR, FLOTUS, US Senator, SecState, author, dog owner, hair icon, pantsuit aficionado, glass ceiling cracker," and, teasing about her plans for 2016 and beyond, "TBD."

5

Twitter accounts Hillary is following. Her list includes Bill and Chelsea Clinton.

22,176

Followers she had at 1 p.m. Monday, after her account had been up for approximately 15 minutes.

53,342

Additional followers Clinton collected in the next hour.

444,152

Followers Hillary Clinton's Twitter account had amassed by 8 p.m. Wednesday.

45,000

Followers the "Texts from Hillary" Tumblr attracted last year. The blog paired a famous picture of Clinton, peering at her Blackberry through large sunglasses, with made-up messages Smith and Lambe imagined her sending to staff, family, and fellow world leaders.

8,400

Twitter followers Smith and Lambe had by the time they posted their last "Text from Hillary."

771,771

Followers Bill Clinton has. He has been on Twitter long enough to post 36 tweets.

217,981

Followers Chelsea Clinton has. A product of the digital age, she has tweeted a lot more than her parents — 1,100 times.

375,999

Twitter users following New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, considered a possible GOP rival should Clinton enter the 2016 presidential race.

32,619,421

Twitter followers President Obama has.

Sources: Daily Beast, Texts from Hillary, The Hill, Twitter