Edward Snowden tweeted his first message to the public on Tuesday. He asked a simple question that hinted he might have more to say.

By and large, the welcome was a warm one.

And so, Snowden thanked the Twittersphere.

The tweet also led to a minidebate about what new information Snowden had brought to the public sphere.

A third tweet came in response to a question from popular astrophysicist and television personality Neil deGrasse Tyson.

As the first Twitter user he followed, Snowden chose his former employer, the National Security Agency.

In the summer of 2013, Snowden was launched into the public eye after handing over classified NSA documents to journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Ewen MacAskill.