Tweet Tweet
Twitter has taken the world by storm, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. Everyone seems to be tweeting. High school students share their biggest fears while world famous athletes hold competitions rewarding their followers. Some of the most famous people in the world, like Shaquille O’Neal, Lance Armstrong, and Ashton Kutcher have more than 2 million people reading their thoughts every day in 140 character increments. These accounts have proven a great way for fans and the general public to get a sneak peak inside the lives of their favorite athletes and celebrities.
As wonderful as it is for athletes to be spilling their guts and saying whatever they feel whenever they feel, it couldn’t be a bigger nightmare for their employers. Prior to blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media outlets, professional teams were able to monitor and approve all interviews. If players said something somewhat controversial, it would be erased from the interview and the public would never see it. Twitter has changed the game, though.
Although its old news, Darren Bent made it completely clear how he felt about his situation at Tottenham Hotspurs this summer before his account was shut down. Thousands and thousands of fans, media sources, and apparently club officials were shocked when they saw Bent reveal his true feelings:
“Seriously getting p***** off now”
“Why can’t anything be simple. It’s so frustrating hanging round doing jack s***.”
“Do I wanna go Hull City NO. Do I wanna go stoke NO do I wanna go sunderland YES so stop f****** around, Levy. Sunderland are not the problem in the slightest.”
I’m not a genius, but if someone possesses your rights, I probably wouldn’t recommend telling them to “stop f****** around.” At least he learned, though. In his first press conference after signing for Sunderland, Bent explained what happened on Twitter. Skip to 5:25 to hear what he says about opening a new account.
His new account can be reached at http://twitter.com/DBTheTruth.
Several weeks ago, after showing up late for the team bus to Portsmouth, Hull City striker and American starlet Jozy Altidore tweeted:
“Apologize to all of you. I showed up late. Made a big mistake I’m very very sorry.”
Not only did Phil Brown drop him from the squad, but he also hit Jozy with a two week fine for revealing why he had been dropped from the squad. Brown cited that Jozy’s absence from the squad was a private team matter that didn’t need to be revealed. You really have to wonder, though. Do we really live in a world where when you mess up at work the first thing you think to do is make it public?
The world is changing and definitely for the better. Twitter allows us common folk to get a glimpse of the glamour that surrounds the rich and famous, as well as their daily routines. I personally follow several Premier League, NFL, and NBA players and love seeing where exactly they are and what exactly they are doing. I only hope that these players are smart enough to know what can and can’t be made public to the millions of people watching.
ryan babel has a twitter as well – always tweeting about the studio, not about soccer. it shows in his playing, scored a screamer against lyon today though
http://videos.sapo.pt/la6OkY7zRyjdzwTbyfbr
sorry man the email notification for this got lost in my junkmail, better fix that problem
babel’s twitter is private but i started to follow him before he protected his tweets. i think he started doing that after his dutch teammate gregory van der wiel got in trouble for tweeting pics of him with lil wayne while he was supposed to be out with an injury for their friendly against australia
woah where did your reply go man?
lloyd – glad to see you back at the site – yea I noticed his tweets are protected now and they weren’t before – haha, the story behind is funny too – hope you are enjoying the site.