Who is Bill Gates Following on Twitter?

Yes, Bill Gates is on Twitter. The planet's richest man, the iconic software mogul who so powerfully shaped modern computing, is posting his thoughts in 140-character chunks. 

Twitter users are likely expecting some trenchant quips about tech from Gates. But in fact he posts mainly about his extensive charitable work. Indeed, technology is a subject he apparently wants to avoid on Twitter. 

For instance, on January 27, as the technorati breathlessly awaited Apple's iPad announcement -- clearly the biggest tech news that day -- Gate was otherwise occupied: 

"Great meeting w German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Again encouraged by what a stong and enlightened leader she is on intl development." 

(iPad, Schmi-Pad, who needs a puny tablet when you're chatting with world leaders?)  

What's most interesting about what is ultimately a rather bland Twitter presence is who Gates follows. Although he has 400,000 followers (growing by the hour) he deigns to follow a mere 43 Tweet streams. 

Being followed by BIll Gates is like being the ultimate Cool Kid in Technology High School. Actually, it's better than that. Given that he's a gold-plated power player, a historical figure of hefty proportion, earning "following" status is akin to semi-immortality. It's like a gaze from the Pharoh, a nod from the Sun King. You're a serious somebody. 

Few -- very few -- individuals earn this honor. The majority of his followees are groups or organizations; MalariaNoMore, fighthunger, UNICEF, Rotary International. Probably the hippest name is the Sundance Festival. Is the Windows mogul an indie film fan?

Then there's a range of high profile publications: the Economist, the New York Times, Time. Nothing too surprising there. 

Interestingly, he follows the decidedly left-leaning Huffington Post. And there's no corresponding right-leaning publication, no Fox News. Hmmm...Is Bill a leftie? 

Okay, what about the people? Out of the 43 followees only 15 are individuals, and one of them is Barack Obama, which is actually a PR outlet for the president. (I'm assuming Obama never plucks out a Tweet himself -- I sure hope not, with everything he has on his plate.) 

Among the very few individuals on Gates's list: Ryan Seacrest. Odd, isn't it? In the annals of pop culture, the pairing of the sofware titan and the hair-gelled emcee is clearly one of the strangest. (Typical Seacrest post: "britney just ran by with an entourage of 100...") But Gates reached out to Seacrest due to his charity work for Haiti. 

Even odder celebrity choices: Ashton Kutcher, who's most famous for having 4.4 million followers; and Ashley Tisdale, the lightweight pop star of the Disney channel, who's famous for, well, whatever tween-set stars are famous for. (Sample Tweet: "making a yummy breakfast!!!"). It's unclear why Gates would follow her. At the very least I hope she's a Windows 7 user. 

There's a fellow mogul, eBay's Pierre Omidyar, an envivonmental entreprenuer, Vinod Khosla, and a professor of global health, Hans Rosling. Impressively, Gates follows Nick Kistof, the New York Times columnist who so eloquently chronicles global humanitarian issues. 

Yet here's the intriguing part. Who in the world of technology is Gates following? That's what counts. His charity picks are well meaning, his celebs choices are -- sorry Mr. Gates -- pretty dorky. 

But which tech pundits does this visionary use his invaluable time to follow? The hallowed list is a scant three names long: 

Steven Levy, Ina Fried, and Kara Swisher. 

Interesting picks. Steven Levy, in Wired, turns out some of the most insightful tech journalism, and does it with a literary flair; Ina Fried, on CNET and NPR, covers Microsoft exhaustively, and arguably with a more positive bent than renowned Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley; and Kara Swisher, of the Wall Street Journal, whose lively BoomTown blog monitors -- and holds sway in -- the very vortex of tech. 

To each of you, congratulations. I suggest you ask for a raise, or at the very least add your status to your resume. 

Oh, and you are running Windows 7, aren't you?