To Tweet or Not To Tweet?... That is the Question!

Twitter can be a very fun social networking source, but as some athletes have learned, it can also be a very dangerous thing.

           Over the past few years, the evolution of social media has completely changed sports from both the fans’ and players’ perspectives. The most commonly used social media source is definitely Twitter.

            Twitter was originally created in 2006 and people used it to either update their whereabouts or promote their own companies. Movie stars and well known celebrities or icons also began to make accounts, which started a transition to the real purpose to Twitter. Everyday 'Average Joes' started to use Twitter for the sole purpose of following these icons and learning more about them. A glaring example of a well-known icon who has Twitter is US president Barack Obama, who has over 6 million followers. This transition that the movie stars created began to evolve into athletes. Hundreds of sports icons have verified Twitter accounts and can easily speak to the public about any issues. More recently, well known media personalities have created accounts and use the social media source to post recent blog posts, to promote a show they're starring in, or to announce the latest news or player signings. A prime example of this came just this afternoon when several media members tweeted that Francois Beauchemin had been traded to the Anaheim Ducks before network stations had reported it themselves.

            Twitter has been a great source for athletes and icons to post their latest thoughts, but it has also caused some people to get into some issues. Being in Toronto, Chris Bosh really 'stirred the pot' when he asked the Twitter world which team he should sign with when he was a free agent this past summer. Bosh was with the squad for seven years and is the Raptors all time leading scorer, but all of his credibility with the city quickly vanished after this whole scandal. Bosh and the Miami Heat haven't played in Toronto yet, but when he does, I'm sure he'll hear his fair share of 'boos' and it'll definitely be a hostile environment.

            Another prime example of a player who caused some commotion with Twitter was NHL player Paul Bissonnette. He is extremely popular solely because of his Twitter account. In fact, his original account 'PaulBizNasty' was deactivated because of some off colour remarks about New Jersey Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk's recent 15 year contract. However, he has made up for this blunder and has made a new account. 'BizNasty2point0' has over 36,000 followers and has created a hilarious aura with NHL fans. His humorous tweets evolved him from a minimum salary NHL agitator into an NHL fan favourite. In fact, his work on Twitter was an integral reason he was named on The Hockey News 100 People of Power and Influence list.

            Twitter can be a very dangerous thing. Athletes who are posting may not be the smartest guys in the world, and there isn't any spell check on a post. In fact, the tweets aren't even editted by team's PR reps. Athletes and well known icons can either use Twitter as a source to bond with and create new fans, or it could just as quickly cause turmoil and hardship.