New York Times media reporter David Carr has a brilliant piece this morning about Rupert Murdoch, the embattled media baron, political kingmaker, and grumpy Twitter newby. In this age of super-controlled messaging and non-newsy corporate announcements, Murdoch’s emergence on Twitter gives us a rare glimpse into the mind of the man in charge. Is this a trailblazing moment in corporate comms or a one-man, one-act show about to get the hook?

First, a little perspective. Murdoch’s December, 2011 debut on Twitter comes about 9 months after that of the ultimate #winner Charlie Sheen and close to two years after Hugo Chavez. Late to the game? Nah, the likes of Jeff Bezos and GE’s Jeffrey Immelt are still on the sidelines. (With GE shares down 50% in the last decade, it’s unlikely the latter will start Tweeting to the masses any day soon).So, Murdoch’s neither late, nor early, (nor perfectly timed), but his Twittering style does serve us up an interesting lesson in proper Tweeting from the C-Suite.

As Carr states:

The rules of effective tweeting for business leaders are no different from the ones for us mere mortals who want to both express ourselves and remain employed: Don’t be boring, don’t curse, and for heaven’s sake, don’t always be shouting about how some junior executive is really knocking it dead. Being interesting is the key to going viral, and on that score, I’d give Mr. Murdoch decent marks.

Here too. We’ve twice featured his Tweets in our “Tweets of the Week” section. I don’t agree with his politics, his take on online piracy, but I’m a big fan of his candor, particularly in this age of bland corporate obfuscation that serves for corporate communications.

In 2010 when Chavez started Tweeting I put together a list together of golden rules for Tweeting bosses, not all of whom are sociopaths of course. I was hopeful at the time that we would be seeing more captains of industry, heads of state and local officials embrace the Tweet. I was wrong there, but the rules are still worth reviewing. Here they are again:

1) Don’t rely soley on Twitter to make your point. Chávez informed his party faithful of his imminent Twitter debut during his weekend variety show Aló Presidente. Sure, it helps if you have a monopoly on the local airwaves. But Chávez shows real social media savvy here by going cross-platform with his message. And there’s a Chávez blog too in the works. The Venezuelan president’s choice of “candanga” in his Twitter handle shows flair too. The word is a local expression to describe a person with an “explosive” personality. Expect some fireworks, twitterverse.

2) It bears repeating: be insightful, but keep it brief. Yes, the 140-character limit even applies to you too, dear leader. “The loquacious leader [is] known for speeches that last hours,” The New York Times points out, questioning whether he can be disciplined enough to stay within the limits of Twitter verbosity.

3) Don’t be complacent. Congratulations, you’ve recruited more than 85,000 followers in the first day. (The Dalai Lama scored just 44,000 in day one, I recall). But it’s been a full 24 hours since your first Tweet and your “Chavista” followers are anxious to hear more. Meanwhile, rivals, using the #freeVenezuela hashtag, have gone on the attack as Venezuelan Tweeter Arturo Hidalgo broadcasts, “power outages show saturation of #Venezuelan electricity grid.”

4) Do you have a crisis response strategy in place? Now that you’re on Twitter, critics will be leveling charges directly at you when you make a misstep. Are you ready for this? Ignore them at your peril, lest you trigger an angry Twitterstorm. Here are a few tips on how to deal with the hashtag-crisis that could sink your reputation. Hint: don’t pull a Toyota.

5) Don’t get distracted by your escalating follower numbers. What’s more valuable to you is what the public is saying about you. Scan Twitter to see where you’re performing well in the public’s eye, and what areas still need improving. Maybe the creaking electric grid is a good place to start.

6) How do you measure your influence in a forum that boasts some pretty influential people? Again, not by counting your follower numbers, but by watching the number of people who re-tweet your missives. After day one, you’re not doing so well, Mr. Presidente. We found only a few re-tweets, including this one from a Twitter used based in “Hell.”

7) Be generous. This is the same advice I gave the Dalai Lama in this column. You are not going to agree with everyone on Twitter, but do make a point to re-tweet the genuinely brilliant, witty and provocative posts you come across. Twitter is a conversation, after all. Yes, listening is required.