Twitter founder Evan Williams tweeted yesterday: "Met the Dalai Lama today in LA. Pitched him on using Twitter. He laughed."

Who's laughing now?

The @DalaiLama account is up and running. And, unlike a previous hoax account, this appears to be the real deal. Twitter's new vice president of communications, Sean Garrett, just welcomed the Tibetan spiritual leader to the site. The account is here. The Dalai Lama already has more than 6,000 followers.

While the Dalai Lama has an affinity for technology, Twitter has been blocked in China since last year.

Not a bad day for Twitter. It announced earlier that it is posting 50 million tweets a day.

-- Jessica Guynn

Photo: Dalai Lama

Credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times