SOME MEMBERS of Twitter, the micro-blogging service, received a surprise last weekend when they were informed that the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, had joined the site. “Dalai Lama (@ohhdl) is now following your updates on Twitter,” the message read.
They bragged about it to friends, talked about spirituality and cracked jokes (“Can enlightenment be reached 140 char at a time?”). By Sunday night, he (or is it He?) had attracted 13,000 new followers, an impressive number even for a guy who spiritually represents the Tibetan people.
But Monday, as it is wont to do, brought disappointment and disillusionment. Turns out the person twittering from the Dalai Lama’s account, @ohhdl, was an impostor.
“Everyone who’s wondering why @ohhdl was suspended. The official ohhdl in Dharamsala, India, informed us that @ohhdl is an impersonator. Sorry,” wrote Caroline, a Twitter spokeswoman.
The San Francisco company had been contacted by the real Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to break the news that the enlightened Twitterer was not, in fact, The Enlightened Twitterer.
Many were surprised that the account was fake. The fake Dalai Lama's office referred followers to the real Dalai Lama's website, discussed his itinerary and thanked people for their support for Tibet's struggles in China. Disappointed Dalai Lama followers can turn to his Facebook page, a fans-of-the-Dalai-Lama Facebook page or his MySpace page, which lists him as single, Buddhist and of average body type. Are these pages authentic? Only the Enlightened One himself knows. – (LA Times/Washington Post service)
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