Bill Gates launches Gates Notes to share his thoughts

Computerworld - As if joining Twitter and rejoining Facebook in the same week weren't enough, Bill Gates has now launched a Web site on which he can share his thoughts.

Sure, most people can share their thoughts and opinions using Facebook and Twitter. But most people aren't the former chairman of Microsoft Corp. and a world-renowned philanthropist.

So to better let people know what's going on in his world, Gates launched a site today called the Gates Notes.

"Since leaving my full-time job at Microsoft to dedicate more time to our foundation, a lot of people have asked me what I'm working on," wrote Gates as a welcome message on his new site. "It often feels like I'm back in school, as I spend a lot of my time learning about issues I'm passionate about. I'm fortunate because the people I'm working with and learning from are true experts in their fields. I take a lot of notes, and often share them and my own thoughts on the subject with others through email, so I can learn from them and expand the conversation.

"I thought it would be interesting to share these conversations more widely with a Website, in the hope of getting more people thinking and learning about the issues I think are interesting and important," he added.

So far, the site has information about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, epidemic preparedness, relief for Haiti and climate change.

It's been a busy week for Gates.

Yesterday, he joined Twitter, sending out his first tweet. Since that first tweet on Tuesday afternoon, Gates has twittered six more times, and he quickly amassed a following of more than 236,000 people. He also made it onto more than 67,000 Twitter lists.

A little after 3 p.m. EDT today he Twittered about his new Web site. "My new Website is live check out www.thegatesnotes.com. Excited to share more about what I'm learning, hope you like it!"

And after quitting Facebook last summer and publicly saying that being on the social networking site was more trouble than it was worth, he made a return on Tuesday. To avoid being crushed with friend requests this time around, Gates has opted to let people become "fans" of his page instead.

Sharon Gaudin covers Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies and desktop/laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter @sgaudin, send e-mail at sgaudin@computerworld.com or subscribe to Sharon's RSS feed .

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