Twitter Basketball

Update: Today, Gilbert Arenas was suspended indefinitely and without pay from the National Basketball Association. Keep in mind that this article was published before the suspension was announced.

A couple of months ago, I wrote a post about Gilbert Arenas, calling him the true pioneer of social media. Far before Shaq had 2.7 million followers (the population of Jamaica), Arenas was blogging for the NBA. Sure, social media wasn’t quite as “social” back then. Gilbert wasn’t directly interacting with fans, but he was providing us with an inside look into his life on and off the court. Arenas wrote his last post towards the end of 2008, after he’d sustained a couple of injuries. By then, he’d already established himself as the first professional athlete to really succeed with social media.

For more than a year, Arenas stayed away from social media. Shaq exploded onto the scene with his ‘Random Acts of Shaqness’ and ‘Yo Mama’ jokes. He’s been the unquestionable sweetheart of the sports and social media world. Then, in early December, Arenas created a Twitter account, and sent out the message that he wouldn’t tweet again until he got one million followers. I was thrilled to see Gilbert back in the space, and I thought that he’d get his million in no time.

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About Sam Taggart

Sam is a Creative Strategist for VaynerMedia, a social media agency based in New York City. Sam previously worked as an Account Executive for the New York Jets as well as the New Jersey Nets and spent time working with former NBA player Jalen Rose as well as NFL safety Kerry Rhodes. He now focuses on creative strategy across VaynerMedia's portfolio. You can follow Sam at http://twitter.com/gosam & visit VaynerMedia at http://www.vaynermedia.com.

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Peter Robert Casey, a fellow Sports Networker member who recently attended the Sports Networker NYC event has been getting a lot of attention online at mashable, Brian Solis, the St. John’s site (along with many others) for his recent “acceptance in the press” credentials he has received because of his powerful Twitter presence. Let’s just say, as a social media sports community that we are extremely proud of him for leading the way into this new opportunity.

Casey, according to the press release, is currently among the Top 10 most-followed basketball-related users on Twitter. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native and Bronx resident trails only NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic, the Los Angeles Lakers, University of Kentucky coach John Calipari, Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors, Charlie Villanueva of the Detroit Pistons and a few others among those associated with professional, collegiate and youth basketball. Casey is, by far, the most-followed basketball-related individual who is not a professional basketball player, team or coach. [click to continue…]