Though it may not seem like it if you lived through four years of Donald Trump’s tweets, President Barack Obama is actually the country’s first digital president.
The first president to use social media to communicate, Obama was able to connect with millions of people at once and gave Americans access to the Oval Office like never before. Now, the Obama Presidential Center Museum is planning to honor his legacy with a series of digital experiences.
“Power of Words” is an immersive digital exhibit planned for the Obama Presidential Center, which is currently under construction on Chicago’s South Side. Using imagery displayed on a canvas that will consume the height of the museum building, the 88-foot, four-floor exhibit is meant to be a treat for all of the senses, curators say.
“It’s a remarkable marriage of artistry and words and texts and images and sound,” Obama said in a video clip of him touring a prototype of the experience. “It really is going to give, I think, visitors of the museum a chance to immerse themselves in the spirit of our campaigns and the spirit of my administration. It’s thought-provoking and beautiful.”
From his 2008 presidential campaign to his final days in office, social media was a big part of Obama’s success. The first American president to answer questions from the public on YouTube and the first to do a Facebook live from the Oval Office, it was a tool he used masterfully to get his message to the masses.
Check out his first presidential tweet on May 18, 2015:
“Hello, Twitter! It’s Barack. Really! Six years in, they’re finally giving me my own account,” he wrote.
The country’s first Black president also used social media to show us a lighter side, whether he was cheering on his favorite athletes or sharing his favorite songs.