The Dalai Lama on Twitter

A fake Dalai Lama account on Twitter attracted 20,000 followers in the two days that it took to be launched, reported as a fake by the office of the exiled Tibetan Buddhist monk, and taken off air. Before the account was exposed as a fake, the story was picked up by Agence France-Presse, PC Magazine, Tech Digest, and other notable news feeds and blogs.

Twitter suspended the account when they discovered that it was not created by the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and as such, the author had violated Twitter’s user agreement. The site re-launched days later after the author explicitly stated that it is not an official Dalai Lama Twitter account.

So why wouldn’t the Dalai Lama twitter? After all, 20,000 followers in two days takes the concept of viral marketing to an epidemic level. More>>