Azim Premji on Twitter? No, says Wipro

BANGALORE, INDIA: Yesterday, the Twitter freaks got a a new corporate celebrity for them to follow for tweets! That was none other than the soft-spoken chairman of Wipro Ltd, Azim Premji! But soon came the disappointment, as the IT major said that the man behind this account is not Azim Premji.

According to Wipro, the new Twitter account in the name of Azim Premji (@azim_premji), which started functioning from December 6, 2010, is a fake account and the company is planning to take corrective actions to rectify it.

The profile of the account, however, has a picture of Azim and describes, “Committed to Wipro, my workplace...and to the people who live in me. Thank You all for showering upon me, your true blessings...”

Responding back to the followers the marketing department at the company that manages Wipro's official Twitter account (@Wipro) tweeted this morning, “Wipro Disclaimer: Twitter account www.twitter.com/azim_premji is fraudulent. Premji & Wipro do not endorse communication going out thru this ID.”

In one day the account got around 250 followers. The first tweet from the account was, “Hullo people... Thanks for finally bringing me here. Twitter has always attracted the masses, feels great to be one among the people....”

The account holder in contrast was following some 24 account like ESPN, TIME, BBC and authors, journalists including Paulo Coelho, Anupam Kher, Barkha Dutt, Vir Sanghvi and Rajdeep Sardesai, an interesting combination, of course!

Another tweet from the account said, “Before coming here, I decided, I wouldn't be discussing business theories here...that's what happens in board rooms, not on a social network!”

This is not the first case to come up. There are many such fake accounts like the one in the name of Oil major British Petroleum (BP), Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer (@StevenABallmer), and so on. Interestingly, because of the humors and sarcasm that they spread across, these accounts get more followers than the official feed.

So will the fake beat the original in the tweeting arena? Let's wait and see! After all the celebrity status that the Fake IPL Player got in cyber space is much higher than that of any original cricket player!