Nikki Haley had to say goodbye to 1.7 million Twitter followers this week
Nikki Haley started the new year by relaunching her Twitter account, in the process losing all of her followers and posts from her time as S.C. governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Haley purged the account on New Year’s Day, citing an Obama-era rule that governs the social media accounts of ambassadors and other federal officials.
“Due to State Dept rules that were changed by the outgoing administration, I have had to clear my personal Twitter account that I have had for years,” Haley tweeted Tuesday, the first tweet from her revised account. “The followers, the history, the pictures, and all other content.
“Please refollow and retweet this to your friends,” she said. “Here’s to 2019!”
The State Department rules were put in place to discourage political appointees from continuing to use their social media accounts after they leave the administration for private-sector jobs or retirement, Buzzfeed reported.
Haley had almost 1.7 million followers when the @NikkiHaley account was cleared.
For years, she used the account to document her political ascent. She mixed in a personal touch, tweeting often about Clemson University football, her favorite music and her dog, Bentley.
As of Wednesday afternoon, she was back up to 210,000, and had tweeted 27 times — many of them retweets from other accounts notifying their followers of the change. Among those tweeting about the new account were conservative commentator Ben Shapiro and first daughter Ivanka Trump.
Older tweets from the former ambassador are archived under the Twitter handle @AmbNikkiHaley.
Haley left her post at the end of 2018 after two years representing the Trump administration at the United Nations. Prior to taking the job, she served as South Carolina’s first female and first Indian-American governor from 2011 until January 2017.
Haley hasn’t said what her next career move will be, but most don’t think she’s done with national politics. Haley burnished her national and international reputation in her time at the UN, and speculation abounds that she will run for president someday. There’s also some thought she could run for vice president if President Donald Trump decides to replace Vice President Mike Pence in 2020.
Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative student group Turning Point USA, tweeted out Haley’s new account on Tuesday by saying “She will be our first female President.”
The comment got a retweet from Haley.
This story was originally published January 2, 2019 at 9:28 AM with the headline "Nikki Haley had to say goodbye to 1.7 million Twitter followers this week."
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