Gates draws 3 lakh fans in 2 days

In two days he had gathered over 3,00,000 followers, with the numbers growing by the minute. About 20,000 are joining every hour, according to twittercounter, the site’s channel that tracks follower trends. Vivek Sinha reports.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates joined Twitter with little fanfare on Wednesday. In two days he had gathered over 3,00,000 followers, with the numbers growing by the minute. About 20,000 are joining every hour, according to twittercounter, the site's channel that tracks follower trends.

Gates announced his arrival on the micro-blogging site on January 19 with "Hello world", a catchword popular with software programmers. Gates joined Twitter with a verified account @BillGates.

What's Gates doing on Twitter? Tweeting, pretty much like every one else, about whatever crossed his mind. Among his first posts were links to his new website www.thegatesnotes.com, and also a link to his notes about his 2009 tour of India and his first hand experiences at health clinics he visited in Uttar Pradesh.

Gates had quit social networking site Facebook last year, choking on too many friend requests, but rejoined recently.
Gates's following is set to cross 1.5 million in the next 30 days.

In comparison, India's much discussed tweeter, Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, has 500,000 followers so far, a milestone Gates is expected to cross in days.