The world's richest man has opened an account on China's WhatsApp

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February 14, 2017 12:54 PM

Gates plans to publish his English blog in Chinese through WeChat using the handle "gatesnotes."

These books made an impact on Gates' worldview. Bill Gates pictured.

Bill Gates is not known to be one who shies away from using the Internet to achieve his goals - especially the philanthropic ones.

The richest man in the world participated in the famous Ice Bucket Challenge as well as several Reddit AMAs.

This week, the Microsoft co-founder and multi-billionaire joined Chinese instant messaging service WeChat (basically a Chinese version of WhatsApp but with some Ajasa on the side) to reach an even larger audience.

Although Gates has been on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, since 2010, WeChat has become one of the most popular messaging apps in the world with over 800 million users.

In his introductory video, Gates issues a 12-word welcome in Mandarin. "Hello," says Gates in Chinese, before going on to announce "welcome to my official WeChat account."

ALSO READ: 11 things you didn't know about the wife of the richest man in the world, Melinda Gates

He has previously revealed in a Reddit AMA that he regrets never learning a foreign language, so having a go at Mandarin is something that has fascinated internet commenters and even The Wall Street Journal.

According to report on The Verge, Gates plans to publish his English blog in Chinese through WeChat using the handle "gatesnotes."

It's a new medium through which he can reach a massive online audience, particularly since Facebook and Twitter are both blocked in China.

Maybe someday, we'll see Nigerian founders taking on new languages and cultures to reach a different audience/demographic.

In the meantime, if you have skills in Mandarin, you can follow Bill Gates thoughts on his official WeChat account.

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