Bill Gates joins Twitter

Bill Gates has launched a Twitter feed, with his early posts focused on the events in Haiti and his foundation work.
(Credit: Screenshot by Ina Fried/CNET)

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

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

The "@BillGates" account existed before, but it wasn't actually Gates or anyone on his staff doing the posts. Now, though, the account is held by Gates and is also one of the pages that Twitter lists as a "verified account."

The first post by the real Bill Gates 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."

The first foundation letter (PDF), posted a year ago, noted that it planned to increase its spending in 2009, despite the recession.

Gates also retweeted posts from Time and Ryan Seacrest on Haiti, thanking 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 post.

Among the first people Gates started following--even before @Microsoft--was actress/singer Ashley Tisdale. Tisdale was added, I'm told, because of the work she does with Microsoft and her efforts working with developing countries.

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

Update, 5 p.m. PST: Sure enough, Gates has already topped 50,000 followers within just a few hours. He's following only 40 people so far. In addition to Tisdale, Gates is following an array of folks, from early eBay executive Pierre Omidyar to ABC's George Stephanopolous (and yours truly). He's also following group accounts, including the Microsoft corporate account to the Carnegie Foundation to Malaria no More.

The Official Site of Bill Gates: http://www.thegatesnotes.com/

Bing and Google Both Growing, at Yahoo's Expense

According to the latest data from comScore, Microsoft's search engine continues to gain ground -- but so does Google. by Jared Newman

Even with the threat of Microsoft's Bing, Google continues to take a greater share of the search engine market. But Bing is growing, too; it's Yahoo that is losing ground.

According to comScore's November statistics (via eWeek), Google and Bing are essentially having a feeding frenzy on Yahoo's lost market share. Yahoo's share fell by 0.5 percent last month to 17.5 percent. Bing grabbed most of those searches, rising from 9.9 percent in October to 10.3 percent last month.

Google took the rest, bringing its total market share from 65.4 percent to 65.6 percent in November. It is, however, a slower gain than the previous month, when Google gained a half percentage point.

Oddly enough, comScore's numbers show a different trend than those from Hitwise, released a week ago. Hitwise claims that Bing actually lost market share in November, staying well below the double digits at 9.3 percent.

Google and Bing have engaged in a bit of a search arms race lately. Both search engines have integrated Twitter results, with Bing's Twitter search and Google's real time feeds of Tweets. Last week, Google introduced "Google Goggles," which lets Android phone users perform Web searches based on camera photos. Bing has a different kind of visual search that shows results as graphics. Microsoft is also building out its Map features with Bing Maps Beta, and just released an iPhone app akin to Google's Mobile app. I doubt the impact of all these new and experimental features is reflected yet in market share.

Meanwhile, Yahoo is flailing, its market share down 2.9 percent since November 2008. The company lost toolbar deals with Acer and HP, the two biggest computer manufacturers in the world, and simply isn't innovating on search anymore.

All the better for Google and Microsoft, but with Microsoft finalizing a deal to power Yahoo Web searches with Bing, I wonder how long Microsoft can tolerate Google eating up Yahoo's losses.

Microsoft, Yahoo Finalize Search Deal

Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service
Microsoft and Yahoo have finalized the terms of a broad search and advertising agreement intended to help them compete more effectively with Google.

The companies announced the agreement, which Microsoft's Bing search engine would power Yahoo's search results, and Yahoo would provide premium search-advertising services for both companies, in July.

They had hoped to finalize the deal in late October but needed more time to work out the details.

In a statement on Friday, the companies said they hope that the transaction will close in early 2010 and that they welcome the broad support the deal has gotten from key players in the advertising industry.

"Microsoft and Yahoo believe that this deal will create a sustainable and more compelling alternative in search that can provide consumers, advertisers and publishers real choice, better value, and more innovation," the partners said.

In October, four ad executives and the president of the American Association of Advertising Agencies sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice in support of the agreement. The DOJ is still reviewing the deal for possible antitrust concerns.

The agreement was nearly a year-and-a-half in the making, during which time Yahoo rejected acquisition offers from Microsoft. The stated goal of the arrangement is to offer stronger search competition to Google, which has about 70 percent market share. Combined, Microsoft and Yahoo make up most of the rest.