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

The former secretary of State gets an enthusiastic welcome as she joins the social media party

Hillary Clinton
(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

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:

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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

Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.