nba player twitter “types”

Posted on | July 21, 2009 | Comments

As I’ve written before, I’ve been on Twitter awhile and could be classified as a bit of an addict. Being a big NBA fan, I would say that 90% of the people that I’m following are people associated with the Association in some way or other (players, coaches, beat writers, bloggers, fans, etc.) Over time, I’ve discovered that most NBA players fall into one or more of the following types:

The Trailblazer – No, not the Portland variety. This is the NBA player who joined or started using Twitter before most of the others and blazed the trail. Poster child: Shaq (@THE_REAL_SHAQ, Charlie Villaneuva (@CV31)

Shaq Twitter post

CV31 Twitter post

The Power User – This is the NBA player who has fun with the platform and interacts with fans in a light-hearted way. Posts fun pictures to Twitpic, replies to fans questions and generally “gets it” when it comes to effectively utilizing social media. Poster child: The two players mentioned above + Dwight Howard (@DwightHoward)

Dwight Howard Twitter post

The Preacher – This is the NBA player who uses his feed to “enlighten” his followers. Occasionally profound, sometimes tedious, but apparently quite sincere. Poster child: Stephon Marbury (@StarburyMarbury), Amar’e Stoudemire (@Amareisreal)

Stephon Marbury Twitter post

Amar'e Stoudemire Twitter post

The Telemarketweeter – The NBA player whose tweets appear self-serving much of the time. He may even promise you a brand new shiny pony if you get him more followers. Poster child: Chris Bosh (@chrisbosh)

Chris Bosh Twitter post

The Ivan Boesky – The NBA player who sometimes steps in dog poop by tweeting inside information. You might want to enjoy his candor now, as it seems likely he’ll someday receive a “cease and desist tweeting” letter from the team’s public relations department. Poster child: Kevin Love (@kevin_love)

Kevin Love Twitter post

The Drive-by – This NBA player posts infrequently, but when he does, sometimes you get a barrage of posts one after the other for a few minutes… Then nothing again for at least a month. If you blink, you may miss their tweets. Poster child: Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34)

Paul Pierce Twitter post

The Groundhog Day Updater – This NBA player tends to repeat himself. This NBA player tends to repeat himself. Poster child: Dahntay Jones (@dahntay)

Dahntay Jones Twitter post

The Unverified – This is an account for an NBA player that may or may not be real. Usually has the default background, default icon and only a few updates. Poster child: Jarrett Jack (@Jarrettjack03)

Jarrett Jack Twitter post

The Ghostweeter – This NBA player may not even know he has a Twitter account. His agent, management company, publicist (or one of their interns) control the account and tweet for them. Poster child: We’ll never know for sure, but we can be suspicious… Warning signs: Perfect grammar. Lack of question, “What’s good?”