American President Barack Obama has passed 10 million followers on Twitter, reaching this total on Saturday, September 10.

In doing so he becomes the third Twitter user to pass the lofty target, following in the footsteps of such luminaries as Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber.

Obama (@barackobama) joined Twitter on March 5, 2007, which means it took the President 4 years, 6 months and 5 days to reach 10 million followers.

Obama and his team used Twitter and social media extensively when he first campaigned for President, and he has continued to be an advocate of the platform whilst in office. While Obama’s team handle most of his social media output, the President started to tweet again in June of this year, signing off on his personal contributions with his initials.

Obama used to hold the record for the Twitter profile following the most people on the network, but his number has declined in recent months and Yoko Ono now holds the top spot.

The President is yet to acknowledge his achievement on Twitter itself, but could make an announcement later today.

In May Lady Gaga became the first Twitter user to boast an eight-figure follower count, with Canadian teenybopper Justin Bieber joining her shortly afterwards.