@rupertmurdoch: new account gets twittersphere buzzing

HAS Rupert Murdoch, the media magnate who once saw the internet as the home of ''porn, thievery and hackers'', succumbed to the siren song of the 21st century and joined the increasingly ubiquitous microblogging site, Twitter?

If his first apparent attempts to use the social-media website are any indication - misplaced full stops appear - it seems the octogenarian billionaire may still be getting the hang of it.

Joining Twitter would be the strongest sign yet that Mr Murdoch has moved away from what earlier in the 2000s appeared to be a strong antipathy on his part towards the internet.

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In a 2009 article in Vanity Fair, Murdoch biographer Michael Wolff described Mr Murdoch's view of the internet as predatory, writing: ''For him it's a place for porn, thievery, and hackers.''

That same year, Mr Murdoch warned investors at the annual Sun Valley media and technology conference to ''be careful'' of investing in Twitter, which he reportedly said had yet to show it could provide a sustainable revenue stream.

But during just six hours yesterday, he appeared to throw his doubts aside.

There was ruminations on holidays - ''Vacations great time for thinking. St Barth's [sic] too many people. Thoughts best kept private around here. Like London!'' - and the recently published biography of Steve Jobs: ''… interesting but unfair. Family must hate.''

While many were quick to assume the account was a hoax, that became less likely when it was ''verified'' by Twitter, and its co-founder, Jack Dorsey, greeted him in a message on the site.

''With his own voice, in his own way, @rupertmurdoch is now on Twitter,'' Mr Dorsey said.

Within 13 hours of the account being created, Mr Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of the world's second-largest media company, News Corporation, had almost 14,000 people following the posts, or ''tweets''.

It also appeared that the @rupertmurdoch account was being used as a platform for Mr Murdoch's personal views, rather than to absorb those of others.

The account has so far subscribed to the tweets of only two people: Mr Dorsey and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Mark Pincus.

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/rupertmurdoch-new-account-gets-...