Bill Gates joins Twitter

This article was written by CNET News.com's Ina Fried.

Bill Gates has launched a Twitter feed, with his early posts focused on the events in Haiti and his foundation work."

Bill Gates is many things: a software giant, philanthropist and now, Twitter user.

As of a few hours ago, the Microsoft chairman is now one of the millions offering brief takes on their world to anyone that wants to follow them. I doubt he'll be sharing what he had for breakfast or bemoaning the fact his cell phone just dropped a call, but Bill Gates is now on Twitter.

The account existed before, but was not created or used by the software legend.

The first post by the real Bill http://bto.cnet.com/8401-1-0.htmlGates was a note that he plans to release the second of his annual foundation letters on Monday, charting the progress and challenges in his philanthropic efforts.

"'Hello World," Gates wrote. "Hard at work on my foundation letter - publishing on 1/25."

Gates also re-tweeted posts from Time and Ryan Seacrest on Haiti and thanked Seacrest for his work in the quake relief effort.

As of this writing, Gates has about 8,800 followers, but I'd expect that to jump very quickly. It was 3,000 followers when I started typing this blog.

Gates was also on Facebook but said he eventually gave up on the service after being inundated with friend requests.
By Ina Fried