Obama tweets for first time

President Barack Obama has "pushed the button" to send his first-ever tweet during a visit to the D.C. offices for the American Red Cross.

Obama used the relief organization's page to tweet: tweeted: "President Obama and the First Lady are here visiting our disaster operation center right now."

The next tweet read, "President Obama pushed the button on the last tweet. It was his first ever tweet!"

It was the first time that the president who made history using social media during the 2008 election had personally used the technology.

While both the White House and the president's campaign have Twitter accounts (with extensive lists of followers, no less), those accounts are managed and written by staff — something the president has in common with a majority of officials who are on Twitter.

Obama remarked on the occasion, according to several reporters who witnessed the act.

“I just tweeted. The first time I tweeted," Obama said, noting as well that the Red Cross had raised $21 million through Twitter to send relief to earthquake-stricken Haiti. 

Michael O'Brien contributed to this report.