Until about a month ago, like my friend Grego, I wasn't down with the whole Twitter phenomenon. As it was, I already had Facebook and didn't see the need to be micro-blogging about my daily activities. I saw Twitter as a little creepy, narcissistic, and annoying -- people sharing mundane details about their daily lives and fiending for the next Tweet from their friend or even a stranger perhaps.But I see it differently now. When I started my sports business blog, RecklessAbandonSports.com, in February, I was looking for ways to promote the blog and network with other people in sports business.
The response I kept hearing from other bloggers, including Jason Peck (@JasonPeck) who writes about sports and social media on jasonfpeck.com, was "use Twitter!" So I took their advice and have since found it to be an excellent tool for both attracting visitors to the blog and networking with sports business professionals (and in this case one of my favorite Green Bay Packers).
When Greg Bedard of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote last week that Packers linebacker Nick Barnett uses Twitter, I added him as a "follow" on my @JeromeHarrison account. @Greg_A_Bedard confirmed that @NickBarnett was indeed the real Nick Barnett, so I thought why not send him a line and see if he responds?
Which #56 responded by saying simply:
Barnett uses Twitter to connect with fans and update them on his rehab, the Packers' need for more defensive linemen, new linebackers coach Kevin Greene's intensity, his April Fool's prank at the Bucks game, and yes, his use of the sacred samurai celebration after a sick tackle (look for it this year!)
Most Wisconsin sports fans are familiar with Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva's (@CV31) famous halftime tweet that brought on a scolding by Coach Scott Skiles. Nick Barnett is. "I heard about what happened to him," Barnett said. "Maybe we can chat about that."
That may be a worthwhile chat for Barnett, considering he hasn't exactly been conservative in talking about Packers management and personnel issues:
I think we need one more solid d-line man I think we have some pretty good options for olb but knowing ted I think he wants to sure it up
As more professional athletes jump on the Twitter bandwagon (see a list of athletes using Twitter here), some teams may decide to implement guidelines preventing their players from talking about management or certain team issues. The leagues themselves may soon create a new rule book for social media. The NBA is already on to this.
After a recent game against the Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban dropped this tweet on a missed call by the refs:
how do they not call a tech on JR Smith for coming off the bench to taunt our player on the ground ?
Which was followed soon after by this one:
just found out got fined25k by nba.) nice
That's right. The NBA fined Cuban for tweeting about the refs. They'll getcha! Based on Ted Thompson's locus of control, if more Packers join Twitter, I will bet that Thompson imposes some rules for players using social media sites.
Cuban also brought up a good point about Twitter and free agency:
The more NBA Players tweet, the better the Free Agent recruiting process will be !
Keep a look out for the Samurai this year
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