The Twitterverse is abuzz this afternoon with the news that King James himself, NBA forward LeBron James, has set up a Twitter account.
Having formerly made fun of the way that athletes use the service for self-promotion, James was apparently cajoled into joining Twitter by good friend Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets.
James is the focus of intense interest due to his status as this summer’s top NBA free agent prize.
A number of other NBA teams are trying to entice him to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers – the only professional team for which he has played – and sign with them. The whole process has become a giant circus, unseemly in the extreme.
James’ relatively recent embracing of the Internet and social media – on Twitter, Facebook and his new website – have led to speculation that he plans to announce his free agency decision through one or more of those vehicles. In other words, using social media for self-promotion. Imagine that.
As of this posting, just a few hours after his Twitter account was announced, over 90,000 people have already signed up to follow James’ missives. He has yet to post a single tweet.
It remains unclear what visionary perspectives and bon mots the “King of Akron” will share with the teeming masses after he comes down from the mountain to tell us which team he will be playing for next season, but there will be apparently be plenty of folks listening when he does.
Will you be among them?
UPDATE: LeBron (or one of his minions) has now posted his first tweet.
Here it is, in all its brilliance: “Hello World, the Real King James is in the Building “Finally”. My Brother @oneandonlycp3 gas’d me up to jump on board so I’m here. Haaaa”
David Swinney helps businesses implement social media strategies and plans in order to identify customers and their influencers, engage them in conversation, and leverage those connections to improve the bottom line.
As a technologist with a background in social media, corporate communications, technical and customer support, vendor relationship and project management, he is able to comfortably discuss various social media topics with managers, individual contributors, and just plain folks.
Contact David if you're looking for someone to create, build, and enhance your customer relationships using social media tools and technologies. 