Update: It has been confirmed that @Wendi_Deng is not actually Murdoch's wife. According to @Wendi_Deng, the account was mistakenly and temporarily verified.
Rupert Murdoch capped off one of the most trying years of his life by doing something totally unexpected: he joined Twitter.
In the waning hours of 2011, Murdoch's Twitter account suddenly popped up. The account is verified, and Twitter's chairman, Jack Dorsey, assured incredulous followers that the embattled News Corp. CEO had indeed signed up.
Rest assured, Murdoch's Twitter feed has proven to be as strange and fascinating as everything about the media mogul. The feed comes complete with an appropriately "I just took this of myself" picture, and Murdoch's musings about everything from Rick Santorum to "We Bought A Zoo."
Murdoch stirred up some controversy when he tweeted, "Maybe Brits have too many holidays for broke country!" A twitter account bearing his wife's name, @Wendi_Deng, replied and told Murdoch to delete that tweet. The account, which according to the Sydney Morning Herald has not yet been verified, also tweeted that Murdoch was joking, and that she was explaining how humor online can sometimes "come off as rude." Murdoch eventually deleted the tweet, but continued to get criticized for sending it.
There have been no mentions of phone hacking just yet.
Below, see some of Murdoch's first tweets.