The CEO of News Corporation has joined Twitter and despite receiving angry tweets from many users, he has over 87,000 followers.

There has been speculation that Rupert Murdoch joined the site because he intends to invest in it as he did Myspace. However, the move could also be part of a corporate communications strategy, intent on promoting a more favourable image of the founder following the reputational damage News Corp sustained in 2011. The firm is subject to civil lawsuits over phone hacking and the Murdoch name is still central to the public perception of the scandal.

Murdoch joined Twitter on 31 December and has since tweeted about topics such as films, his holiday and New Year’s resolutions, perhaps aiming to portray a more human side to the CEO. A Twitter account in the name of his wife, Wendi Deng, had been verified by Twitter, but has now been confirmed to be a fake account.

One particular tweet from Murdoch was met with disapproval. While on holiday he tweeted, ‘Maybe Brits have too many holidays for [a] broke country’. He subsequently deleted the post.

Meanwhile, this also means that Twitter has another big name on board. Murdoch received a personal introduction onto the site from Twitter’s executive chairman and founder Jack Dorsey.