Editor's Note : I wrote this at the end of last year for my final english portfolio. The piece is a little on the longer side, so I'd advise you bookmarking it if I can't hold your attention span!. Teams, players, and coaches are still dealing with both the positive and negative effects of Twitter; what follows is my take on the issue. By the way, if you aren't already, give us a follow @seatownsports.
Professional Tweeters: The Impact of Twitter on Professional Athletes
The Twitter Sports Landscape
Since the launch of Twitter.com in 2006, the site has revolutionized the way sports fans take in new information, giving sports journalists and reporters the opportunity to instantly break news.
High school and collegiate coaches and athletes have flocked towards the service to communicate information to friends, fans, and the media. However, the most prominent force on the Twitter landscape has been the professional athlete. From Chad Ochocinco's 1.5 million followers to Shaquille O'Neal's three million followers, it is clear professional athletes have an impact in this virtual landscape.
Twitter provides professional athletes with positive business and personal opportunities; however, it can negatively affect an athlete’s career because of the absence of a middleman within the communication medium.
The current trend of professional athletes using Twitter is a result of its unique benefits that cater towards athletes specifically. Twitter is as powerful as the user allows it to be. More specifically, the more an athlete "tweets" (posts a message on his account in 140 characters or less), the more likely he or she will benefit from the service.
Athletes, unlike the vast majority of Twitter users, have more time and resources to use Twitter. A professional athlete does not have the standard workday from nine to five; as a result, professional athletes can tweet whenever they please.
Self-Promotion
Not only is tweeting easier for professional athletes, Twitter offers more benefits to a professional athlete than the average Twitter user, including the athlete’s use of Twitter to market themselves. "Vote for CC for the 2010 MLB Performer of the Year presented by Pepsi," was tweeted by New York Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia (Oct 21 2009).
At the same time, professional athletes use Twitter to promote their own products that they endorse or are sponsored by. In November 2010, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco employed Twitter to promote his new mobile phone game, "MadChad." Ochocinco's Twitter account has over 1.4 million followers. 
Every single one of these followers most likely has seen at least one of his 35 tweets promoting the MadChad game, ranging from, "@oprah im sorry to bother you, i know you said dont text whil driving but can i play #MadChad whil driving? #justasking” (Nov. 24 2010) to "OCNN: Finally finished #MadChad, last level was way to funny (and hard). Download it & tell me what u think" (Nov. 22 2010).
Ochocinco did not need an expensive commercial or a massive ad campaign. Through the exclusive use of Twitter and Facebook, Chad Ochocinco and the creators of the game, Rok Software, made MadChad one of the top five apps on Apples iTunes Store within 24 hours of its release (NFL). All it took were a series of simple messages fired across Twitter to convince people to buy the game.
Building up a Public Image
As a result of promoting certain products and using Twitter for personal reasons, Twitter allows a professional athlete to build up a positive public image. Unlike team-required charity events, or cliché predictable post-game comments, Twitter is a different way for an athlete to show themselves to the public.
Reggie Bush’s Twitter account is a good example of this. The New Orleans Saints running back has had numerous controversies surround his playing career including allegations that he received improper benefits during his time playing college football at USC.
These allegations eventually caused Bush to give up the coveted Heisman Trophy he won in 2005. However, Bush has done his best to move forward from his reputation as a cheater.
One way he has attempted this is through his Twitter account. His page background is a picture of him with several kids wearing New Orleans Saints jerseys. The caption under his account name reads, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthen's me."
The tweets posted by Bush have an overarching positive tone to them: "Good night peeps! Looking forward to getting on the field tomorrow! Big game for the Saints! Who Dat! (Nov. 20 2010), "Great team win today! Couldn't be more proud of my guys. Looking to get back on the field against Dallas next week” (Nov. 21 2010).
The repeated use of words like “good” and the use of the exclamation mark indicate a happy and forward-thinking person. Like Ochocinco, Bush also has over 1.4 million followers on Twitter.
Bush does not have a mobile game to sell, but he does have a different motivation to use Twitter. Unconsciously or consciously, Reggie Bush's positive tweets help him improve his reputation.
Connecting with the Fans
One approach professional athletes use to build a better public image is by having good relationships with their fan base. Before Twitter, fans had few opportunities to connect with their favorite athletes off the field. These opportunities ranged from seeing their athlete in public by chance to athletes themselves holding exclusive public appearances.
Having direct communication with fans is difficult because a team's public relations office acts as an obstacle, making the process complicated for fans to reach athletes and for athletes to reach fans.
However, there is a reason why the vast majority of professional sports organizations have specific divisions of their organization wholly dedicated to community relations. Protecting an investment often worth over a million dollars is crucial. This is why interactions with fans are typically in a controlled environment.
There is always a middleman involved, whether that is the media, a public relations professional, or the player's decision to not communicate. Twitter removes this middleman. Fan interaction is easier and more effective for the athletes because of Twitter.
There are several ways fan interaction is achieved through Twitter, one being the athlete's ability to "follow" their fans back. Athletes can see what their fans are thinking. For most professional athletes, especially the most popular, “following back” every one of their fans can be counter-productive and at times impossible.
However, athletes can reply to any tweets that "mention" (tweets can tag another user and guarantee that the other user sees it under their "mention" section) them.
“Mentions” not only mean the athlete is acknowledging a particular fan, it is direct communication between the athlete and a fan. A real-life parallel is the difference between a smile and actual words spoken directly from an athlete to a fan. This line of communication is easy and convenient for both sides.
Instant Gratification
Some athletes utilize this line of communication more than others. Former Boston Celtics guard Nate Robinson often holds contests for his Twitter followers: "Tweeple in Motown and beantown. Givin away to tix tonights game in Detroit and 2morrows in Boston. Gotta be in those cities to win...” (Nov. 2 2010), "So if ur in Detroit tonight or Boston tomorrow send me photos of your Halloween costumes. Imma pick tha best ones for the tix” (Nov 2. 2010).
For a fan, this is instant gratification. For Nate Robinson, he had no difficulty putting the contest together; all it took was a simple idea and a few tweets to explain the rules and parameters of the contest. It is important to note that Twitter did not come up with the idea for holding contests or empowering an athlete to mention their fans in tweets.
The athlete has complete liberty on how he or she chooses to use the service. On the other hand, many athletes do not interact directly with their fans through Twitter, as made apparent by the small number of users they follow and by the lack of mentions. Still, these athletes are building relationships with their fan bases because they are revealing their ordinary lives off the field.
Being down to earth
While Twitter allows professional athletes to market themselves, promote products, and build relationships with their fans, the service also provides some personal benefit to their personal lives.
According to @Pro_Athletes, a Twitter account that tracks the Twitter accounts of professional athletes, there are over three thousand athletes with Twitter accounts from all the major professional sports; NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, NASCAR, MLS, UFC, Tennis, and Olympics athletes (Pro Athletes). Not every professional athlete has the fame and personality like that of Shaquille O'Neal to draw in over a million followers.
Most athletes not playing in the NFL or NBA do not have endorsements and do not have to use Twitter to promote any companies or products. At the same time, not everyone is a superstar in their respective sports, meaning a decent number of professional athletes on Twitter hardly even have a fan base.
How is everyone else that is not a superstar using the service and how does it benefit him or her? I can only speculate, because I cannot interview these athletes, but this is what I think after using Twitter and following some athletes for more than two years.
Twitter empowers both the sports fan and the athlete; it provides tangible evidence to the athletes themselves that they matter. Twitter can make someone feel popular and cared about. In many ways, athletes have the same wants and needs as everyone else. Aside from the contests and the sponsored advertising that fills the Twitter feeds of many athletes, there is some evidence that athletes use the service to communicate certain thoughts or opinions they are not able to communicate to their fans anywhere else.
Alicia Sacramone, a team captain of the United States 2008 Olympic Gymnastics team has over two thousand followers. This is a large number when compared to a non-professional athlete Twitter account, however it is on the lower end of accounts when compared to the follower count of the aforementioned Chad Ochocinco.
Sacramone’s tweets have a personal touch and her feed is not crowded with self-promotion and mentions to her followers. She writes, "Doesn't anyone else realize a snuggie is a backwards robe?" (Nov 9 2010), "Nothing like shopping on a rainy day" (Nov 21 2010).
These observations and one-liners can be said by anyone, not just famous professional athletes. However, because these quips are coming from someone famous like Sacramone, fans see the human side of these athletes, for example, "Wow, Alicia Sacramone is so cool and down-to-earth because she also thinks snuggies are useless."
Tweets like Sacramone’s often get re-tweeted by the followers of professional athletes. The spread of down-to-earth messages makes people feel like they are on an equal footing with these athletes.
All of a sudden, the millions of dollars, the celebrity lifestyle, and the impeccable talent and all the other artificial barriers that separate athletes from sports fans are removed. Nothing existed like Twitter before to tell us what TV shows our idols were watching, or what my sports hero had for breakfast this morning. Twitter enables professional athletes to comment on everyday observations that sports fans can relate to.
The Twitter King, Shaquille O'Neal
No athlete reaps the benefits of Twitter as much as Boston Celtics center, Shaquille “Shaq” O’Neal. According to twitaholic.com, a site that tracks the most popular Twitter users based on follower count, O’Neal has amassed over 3 million followers making him the 21st most popular tweeter in the world. Along with his on the court performance, O’Neal’s Twitter account has helped him increase his already enormous popularity.
Shaq’s success on Twitter can be credited to his ability to use the service often, authentically, and as a liaison between him and his fans.
If there were a model for all athletes to follow in order to benefit from the service, Shaq would be the person to emulate. O’Neal frequently tweets on a daily basis, but rarely tweets more than five times a day. This frequency is enough to keep all of his followers satisfied, and also allows him to focus more on the quality of his tweets.
A quick browse through the Twitter account of THE_REAL_SHAQ shows him promoting a Toys R’ Us charity, asking basketball analyst Charles Barkley who the top power forward in the NBA is, and several replies to questions and comments sent to him by fans.
O’Neal tweets with purpose: he promotes himself and products, he interacts with his fans, and he speaks his mind. Shaq’s Twitter synthesizes all the different ways a professional athlete can use the service and as a result he benefits more from Twitter than many other athlete.
The Bad Tweets
Much can be said about the beneficial aspects professional athletes enjoy because of Twitter, however, the social media website has been a disservice and a detriment to the personal and professional lives of some of the athletes who are users.
For every few good tweeters, there are a couple of bad tweeters and for every thousand of tweets; there are always one or two tweets that could be scrutinized by the public. Is there even a "wrong" way to use it in the first place?
I contend there are wrong ways to use the service, especially in the case of professional athletes. There are two types of tweets that can get an athlete into trouble: unintentional tweets and intentional tweets.
In August 2010, Michael Beasley, an NBA forward for the Miami Heat tweeted a link to a picture of his new back tattoo. Several sports blogs and some mainstream outlets like Yahoo! Sports immediately speculated that there were two plastic baggies visible on the lower corner of the floor that were filled with marijuana. 
A couple days later, Beasley was admitted into a rehabilitation hospital to address possible substance-abuse issues (Wojnarowski). Would the Miami Heat and the NBA have taken notice to Beasley's marijuana habit if it were not for Twitter?
I do not know the answer, but I do know Twitter aided Beasley in sharing his photo with anyone that followed him on the service. In an effort to show everyone his new tattoo, Beasley inadvertently might have shared too much. On the other end of the spectrum, a professional athlete can intentionally tweet something provocative.
In October of 2009, Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson took a swipe at his then current head coach Todd Haley, tweeting, "my father played for the coach from ‘remember the titans’. Our coach played golf. My father played for redskins breifley. Our coach. Nuthn” (Oct. 25 2009).
Following this exchange, Johnson replied to a fan that referenced Johnson's altercation at a nightclub the year before, “think bout a clever diss then that wit ur [expletive] pic. Christopher street boy. Is what us east coast cats call u” (Oct 24 2009).
The homophobic expletive along with his comments about his head coach landed Johnson a suspension and eventually a release from the team. In Johnson's case, he literally tweeted his way out of his job. Twitter enabled Johnson to vent out his frustrations, at a time when his production on the field was lacking.
It is reasonable to assume that Johnson would not have made these same comments to the press. He would not say those words to his coach and he also would not hear any direct criticism from fans if Twitter had not existed. However, Twitter allowed Johnson to say what he wanted to say in an all-too-public setting.
The Athlete's Responsibility
How can athletes avoid troubles similar to Beasley and Johnson? The responsibility lies squarely upon the athlete's shoulders. In Beasley's case, he needs to realize that there are thousands of people following him on Twitter, and because of re-tweeting features, hundreds of thousands of people can read and spread anything he tweets.
When using Twitter, it is easy to forget the potential audience one is speaking to. On top of that, the more successful and well known you are because of your on-the-field talents, the bigger focus people will have on your Twitter account.
An athlete's Twitter account extends their public persona and their public image. Twitter is an on-going press conference open not just to sports reporters, but to thousands of fans as well. The actions of Beasley and Johnson were also detrimental to the organizations and the leagues that they worked for. This is exactly why they both suffered consequences that had significant impacts on their career.
In an article about how tweeting athletes can be legal liabilities for their teams, Dan Schwabel, a personal branding expert and author of the book "Me 2.0" says, "The impact one tweet can have on your career is life-changing" (Thomaselli).
This is what separates professional athlete tweeters from mainstream tweeters. There is much more on the line when Shaquille O'Neal says something, because there are potentially over one million people listening. Most athletes do not have to worry about permanently damaging their career if they are going to use Twitter to talk about what they had for breakfast. In any case, though, as seen in the incidents of both Beasley and Johnson, tweeting something can get one into big trouble.
Similar to most social media and online privacy advice, the advice for athletes on Twitter is simple: avoid sharing too much, realize when you share something, who you are sharing it with, and in Beasley's case, double-check what you are going to share before you share it.
The Loss of the Middle Man
In both of the instances of Beasley and Johnson, they suffered consequences because they did not realize the repercussions of releasing information to the public without going through some sort of censor, some type of middleman.
Twitter has removed hired public relations professionals and traditional media from the picture. Though this sometimes can lead to a negative outcome, I argue for the benefits of this new type of communication. The candid tone that results from an athlete's use of Twitter to get across opinions is favorable both to the athlete and to the fans.
The athlete has full control over what he or she says and when he or she says it. Reporters do not have to prompt athletes; instead athletes can type out anything in 140 characters or less.
At the same time, any athlete that wants to say something about anything has the chance to do so. Regardless of whether Athlete X sat on the bench the whole day or has been out the whole season with an injury, Twitter gives any athlete a platform to speak on.
This is a shift from before Twitter existed, when the traditional media only gave opportunities to star players or those who had an impact on a particular game to voice their opinions.
Twitter also allows the athletes to get across their message in their own words. When a middleman present, potential bias can infiltrate what a player says and bias can be present in the way a player's words are presented to the reader.
The only bias available in a tweet of a professional athlete is the bias of the athletes themselves. Twitter allows fans to get more inside of the minds of the athletes and further breaks down the barrier previously upheld by the traditional media that separated fans from the athletes.
The Gray Area
The lack of the middleman leads to this inevitable question: should athletes treat Twitter as if they are talking to the media? Should the same rules apply?
One of the main reasons athletes and mainstream users love Twitter just for that fact: there are no rules. The governing bodies of most professional leagues have already provided parts of these answers.
In 2009, the NFL decided to prohibit players, coaches, team personnel, and game operations staff from using Twitter, Facebook, and other communication methods to fans 90 minutes before opening kickoff and after final post-game media interviews (Trotter). Athletes still are held accountable for their post-game media obligations, thus Twitter does not have the ability to completely replace the traditional media.
In the fall of 2009, the NBA also instituted a rule that prevents the use of cell phones and other communication devices by coaches, players, and other team basketball operations personnel 45 minutes before game time until after post-game responsibilities (NBA). Like the NFL, the NBA cannot always control what athletes tweet, but they can prevent when anything is tweeted.
Tweeting during a game or directly before or after a game breeds an environment where the athlete might not exactly think before they tweet. Emotions are much higher and judgment can sometimes get the best of an athlete during these times.
Though not stated explicitly, preventing the use of communication devices directly before and after a game could prevent sensitive and confidential information from getting out. I am not saying all athletes have bad judgment when they are tweeting before, during, or after a game.
However, an athlete is always in a better situation to speak their mind about anything when they are not tired, sweaty, or emotionally drained. Twitter provides absolute freedom to the athlete; this freedom, though beneficial to the professional athlete, can often put leagues and organizations at risk.
Leagues and organizations cannot control how the athletes use Twitter, but they can provide guidelines and punish athletes who do put the parties at risk through the use of Twitter.
Distraction?
The pre-game and post-game ban of Twitter begs the question, is Twitter a legitimate distraction to professional athletes? Does Twitter have on-the-field implications?
In a Sports Illustrated article about the Twitter phenomenon in sports, St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson said, "If someone wants to say I had a bad game because I use Twitter too much, that's a ridiculous reach" (Gregory). It is hard to disagree with Jackson. Most professional athletes have reached their level of play not only because of their talent, but also because of their ability to block out distractions.
It is doubtful Shaquille O'Neal is thinking of what he will tweet next when his team is down by two points in the fourth quarter. If anything, Twitter resides in the back of the minds of most athletes. But even this statement finds its contradiction in the rare case of Chad Ochocinco. Ochocinco, who was mentioned earlier, has been breaking NFL rules ever since he entered the NFL.
One of his most recent incidents involved the posting of two messages during a game, "Man I'm sick of getting hit like that, it's the damn preseason ----! 1 day I'm gone jump up and start throwing hay makers (sic)" (Aug. 27 2010).
After being fined $25,000 by the NFL, Ochocinco ironically apologized on Twitter to the NFL Commissioner. Ochocinco’s provocative actions can be questioned when put into the context of whether Twitter is an actual distraction.
There is no conclusive evidence to say whether Twitter is an actual distraction to athletes, though many athletes who tweet deny that there is. Twitter is always a potential distraction, and could pose as a bigger threat to leagues and organizations because it is a free forum for athletes to talk to the public.
Being part of the Club
Accordingly, Twitter is only as powerful as the athlete allows it to be, an athlete can only exert their influence if they have a large following made up of fans, media, and other players in the league. I mentioned earlier that a stronger connection between the athlete and the fan is the reason why someone follows an athlete on Twitter, but there are more reasons.
The celebrity nature of professional athletes combined with an athlete's potential to release completely true and unfiltered information draws in fans, media, and other players to follow them and read their posts.
Some professional athletes have reached the point of celebrity. The traditional media follows Derek Jeter, LeBron James, and Michael Vick as closely as they follow Jennifer Aniston, Daniel Radcliffe, and Tom Cruise. The whole concept of a celebrity crush can be translated to people idolizing their favorite athletes. Twitter acts as the perfect tool for nurturing a celebrity obsession.
As a result of the lack of the middleman, fans feel automatically closer to their favorite professional athletes. Any opinions tweeted by a professional athlete can be personally digested and interpreted by the fans themselves.
Fans can get into the minds and thoughts of athletes and get to know them better through Twitter. These are the reasons behind why someone follows Athlete X. Personality may not always be seen on the field of play or even in post-game interviews. Personality sometimes can be found on an athlete's Twitter page, especially within the tweets themselves.
For example, during the 2010 NBA preseason, Nate Robinson and Shaquille O'Neal engaged in a prank war in which the teammates posted pranks played on each other on Twitter.
One set of pranks involved the 5'7" Nate Robinson jumping and dunking over the 7'6" Shaquille O'Neal when his back was turned. To get revenge, O'Neal later took his size 23 shoe and hit Nate Robinson from behind with it. Both of these players revealed that though they take their jobs seriously, they also make sure to find time for fun.
Using Twitter to reveal this fun to their followers enables followers to feel like they are “part of the club.”
Shaquille O'Neal's and Nate Robinson's Twitter followers were not physically at practice that particular day, but they were all there to witness the prank war when they logged onto their Twitter accounts.
"Fans can hear everything straight from da diesels mouth"
Twitter has permanently changed the sports landscape in its first five years with professional athletes using the service to quickly speak directly to their millions of followers. Shaquille O'Neal said it the best when asked to compose a short essay for TIME magazine on the subject of Twitter:
"i like twitter because its a way for me to talk directly wit everyone...i can tweet from anywhere n its quick. i like to hear what everyone is sayin...people think im not there, but im always listenin. im about entertainment and makin people laugh...twitter allows me to take back da microphone. fans can hear everything straight from da diesels mouth. shaqmedia, lol." (Stein)
The positives Twitter brings to professional athletes and their fans far outweigh any potential negatives. The service builds up an environment characterized by an on-going conversation between professional athletes and their fans.
Critics may say Twitter poses too big of a risk to professional athletes, but the service is now so ingrained in sports culture that it might be a moot point to fight it. The rise of Twitter is a step forward for the sports world when evaluated in context.
Jo Favorito, a sports public relations and branding consultant who previously worked for the New York Knicks said, "I think all the social-media stuff is similar to when sports talk radio first launched [20 years ago] - people didn't know what to make of it...this is just another evolutionary step in how sports marketing and branding grows. You're going to have bumps along the way" (Thomaselli).
Favorito brings up a crucial point that: there may be some bumps along the way. Some professional athletes are going to use it right and some will advertently or inadvertently abuse the service.
There is still much to learn about Twitter and its impact on professional athletes and sports. Twitter is still young and more professional athletes continue to join everyday. It is difficult to project whether Twitter will be used less frequently with teams and leagues tightening their grip on how players use the service.
On the other end of the spectrum, if teams and leagues embrace the service and professional athletes continue to flock towards it, what will the end consequences be on the media, the fans, and the athletes themselves? This is one question that cannot be answered in 140 characters or less.
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