Professional athletes have been making headlines for many years here in the United States; however, some have been making headlines based on posts that they made on their Twitter pages. For those who do not know, twitter.com, is a microblogging social media outlet. Posts are 140 characters are less and many celebrities, athletes, and TV personalities have been using it to gain more fans and followers. Today athletes have been causing arguments based on how professional it is for them to be using Twitter especially during competition or about their team that they are employed by. Two of the more controversial tweets  by athletes over the past two years have been by NBA mega-star Lebron James. He tweeted:

This was in response to many people who criticized him on his decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat. The other one was by Pittsburgh Steelers starting running back Rashard Mendenhall:

This was in response to the news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed.

The bottom line is that these men and women are in the limelight 24/7 whether they like it or not. That is what they signed up for when they became a pro athlete. They do not have to be role models per se and everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but I think some of these athletes need to be more conscientious about their social media “game.” Twitter is a great use and following many celebrities and athletes is worth while, but due to their place in the public eye it is their duty to make sure that they are responsibly keeping up with their social media networks. That is my opinion, what is yours?

Twitter is an extremely powerful social media tool.  It allows you to connect to your audience and interact with them.  I found a great plugin in WordPress that really allows your Twitter account to be integrated to your website.  It is called cbnet Twitter Widget.  It is a really sleek looking plugin that extremely customizable and allows people to see what your Twitter profile looks like and what they would be following.  I use my twitter account to mainly let people know when I have written an article.  This let people see exactly what  they would be signing up for.  Here is a picture of what the plugin would look like on my website:

Written by Ford Jordan
FordJordan.com | SEO, Web Design, Sports, and Business

After being in this class for half a semester already, I thought maybe I should make a Twitter account. Set up was easy, but I’m not really sure what to do now. I’m following a few of my favorite athletes, bands, TV shows, and a few people are following me (not sure why.) I’ve only logged in a few times and haven’t figured it in 5 minutes the way I did with Facebook.

So, how do you talk to friends? I’ve heard some people say that you talk about them, not at them. Seems a little weird to me. As far as using Twitter as a business tool, I now see how useful this can be. If someone were to tweet about your business, they would use the companies hash tag, displaying the tweet to all of the companies followers.

I’m not convinced that Twitter is better than Facebook. I think Facebook rules the industry as far as socializing with friends goes. I seet Twitter as a way to check in with your customers/clients, fans, athletes, bands, etc. Twitter is a great tool, and I encourage all you stragglers (like me) to go and start an account.

1. Marketing and Communication:

As a small business company or a large business you can use twitter to advertise and provide information to your customers through a popular site easily.

2. Easy Blogging:

It is the easiest and most basic form of blogging out there.

3. Business networking:

Twitter is a informal type of social media networking and can be used to develop business relationships or ventures.

4. Breaking News and Gossip:

It can be used between family members to tell each other of important things that happened in the last week or it could be used for big companies telling of their new product that they are developing.

5. Streamlining Social Media:

You can use Twitter for email type chatting, for chatting, and instant messaging. So instead of using a bunch of different programs you could just end up using Twitter.

I love Twitter. My first use of Twitter was as an account for a band I was with at the time, a way to communicate with fans, update them instantaneously, and tweet the shenanigans that we were up to. About a year ago, though, I decided to sign myself up for it. As I became more interested in social media and in engaging with the world via the internet, I recognized this little bird as a force to be reckoned with.

Since then, I’ve really come to enjoy it! Twitter is a great source of immediate news and interesting items. I follow numerous world news, local news, business news, music news sports news, sports teams and athletes, celebrities, comedians, businesses, bands and friends so that I can log in at any time and get information that is actually beneficial. I feel that Facebook focuses on people, particularly friends. Honestly, I’m not sure it’s worth much besides keeping up to date on friends that I would rather call, text, or hang out with anyways. With Twitter, I can connect to the happenings of the world. Also, being followed by people I don’t know is much less creepy than being friend requested by those people on Facebook.

My roommate and I often get caught up with trying to be retweeted or responded to by the many Pittsburgh Steelers that we follow. I also love to spout off opinions on matters that my 100+ followers will see, many of them companies, professional musicians and professional athletes. I believe that the endless struggle by many Twitter users to gain followers and to be retweeted is driven by something everybody wants: attention.

Twitter is an incredible place for Steve Jobs, Ben Folds, LaMarr Woodley, Taco Bell and Dan Van Matre to have an equal voice. Try it out!

Many small business owners have learned to harness the power of Twitter to grow their business. Here are three examples.

1. A small pizza shop in New Orleans called Naked Pizza decided to promote its new advertising slogan via twitter. They promoted the “Eat Like an Ancestor” slogan and generated 68% growth in sales in a single day.

2. Laura Fitton quit her consulting firm to spend a little more time at home with the kids. While at home she was introduced to twitter. A year later she was head of a new consulting firm. This one targeted towards helping businesses market themselves on twitter. She uses her own twitter account to post informative content which in turn solidifies her place as a thought leader in twitter marketing.

3. Becky McKray owns a cattle ranch and a liquor store. She doesn’t really use Twitter to promote her businesses. Instead, she relies on the ability of Twitter to connect her with people in her field who are able to assist her with her business. She has utilized Twitter to acquire tax advice, start up advice, even advertising advise from a marketing consultant. All through the free exchange of ideas promoted via Twitter.