6 Things We've Learned About Kobe Bryant Since He Started Tweeting

It's taken Kobe Bryant years to create a Twitter account, and then it took him even longer to actually use the freaking thing. Now we're starting to learn a few things that we would have otherwise never known without Twitter.

There are a lot of tweets we would expect, some stuff in Italian, a few inspirational quotes, a retweet of Jay-Z. Nothing too extraordinary.

However, every once in a while there's a funny little quip, a picture he tweets that really seems to be meaningful to him, or just something personal that we wouldn't get to learn otherwise.

In reality, it's just a bunch of nonsense with all of us trying to feel like we've got some kind of connection to a famous person's life, but it's also a bit of insight into a world that we know very little of.

So, what do we know about Kobe Bryant since he decided to drop the Twitter boycott and finally break down and join? Well, quite a bit actually.

Kobe Hashtags in First Person

We all know that Kobe nicknamed himself, and even though it's a cardinal sin in nickname giving, most people don't seem to care.

Kobe can do whatever he wants.

However, can he get away with hashtagging his own nickname in his own tweets? Apparently so.

"

The antisocial has become social #mambatweets

— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) January 4, 2013"

This was the first tweet he ever sent out with his account. Not only is he trying to make it seem like an event, but the hashtag "Mambatweets" is just on the sane side of ridiculous.

Tweet at Him in Italian, He Might Follow You

People always seem obsessed with getting their favorite athlete to give them a retweet, and a bunch of people would go off the deep end if they ended up following them.

That's just what Kobe did with one fan a few weeks ago who tweeted to him in Italian.

"

@kobebryant non substituion per il duro lavoro. È per questo che ho ancora fiducia nel Lakers. #mambatweetsitalian

— Luke Mathes (@lukemathes) January 7, 2013"

That translates, roughly, to "There's no substitution for hard work. That's why I have confidence in the Lakers."

So Kobe tweeted back, and then gave the young gentleman a follow.

"

@lukemathes grazie amico. E un piacere avere una persona con cui posso parlare Italiano su twitter

— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) January 7, 2013"

Kobe says, "Thanks man. It is a pleasure to have someone with whom I can speak Italian on Twitter."

He Doesn't Follow All of His Teammates

Kobe only follows 28 people on Twitter. Some of them make sense, like Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol, while there are a few other intriguing follows on his list.

However, when it comes to his teammates, Kobe follows those three players, Steve Blake and Darius Morris.

I think we've figured out the reason for the strife in Los Angeles, people. One of the hottest commodities in social media, a follow from Kobe Bryant, and he's not doling them out to all of his teammates.

This is why Metta World Peace is missing ugly three-pointers, why Jordan Hill always taps offensive rebounds out to Nash instead of Kobe, and why Robert Sacre doesn't dance as hard when Kobe scores.

How do you fix the lull in L.A.? Get Kobe following all of his teammates, obviously.

Dedication, Obviously

Before Kobe started his Twitter account, we didn't know too much about him other than the fact that he's an incredibly dedicated basketball player. His joining Twitter only emphasized that fact.

Besides the fact that he's prone to tweet a cheesy, inspirational quote after a tough loss (which are coming around more often these days), he gives us another look into his everyday life with a few pictures.

"

Acupuncture therapy. Whatever it takes#mambatweets twitter.com/kobebryant/sta…

— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) January 5, 2013"

Of course, the acupuncture is just one of the few things he goes through to be such a terrific and driven player.

And he's never afraid to remind us what he's chasing.

"

The reasons training, diet and ice baths are endured twitter.com/kobebryant/sta…

— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) January 6, 2013"

He's Got His Eye on the Media

It's not often that Kobe hints that he's aware of what's going on in the sports world, at least as far as the NBA is concerned.

Usually players of his caliber just keep their heads out of it all and trudge on through the season blissfully ignorant of all the blogs, bashers and hateful comments.

It seems that Kobe at least has an eye on the media through Twitter, though, probably trying to see if the Lakers are going to end up trading anybody.

Of his handful of followers, he's keeping tabs on Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski, Jim Rome, Darren Rovell (ESPN's business reporter), and of course, Oprah, Forbes, Funny-or-Die, and Ellen Degeneres.

You gotta know what's going on around you, even if it's being said on Ellen.

He's Actually Pretty Funny

The only real glimpse we get into the subtle humor of Kobe Bryant is the here-and-there stray joke to the media, a few laughs on the bench, or just a video of him goofing around in the locker room.

Twitter has really been his first chance to be outwardly funny, as his Facebook page is mostly used for long diatribes about what's going on with the Lakers.

Already we've seen him reminding himself not to take things too seriously, correcting his spelling and blaming it on the jump straight to the NBA.

"

Sunset view from yacht not yatch lol don't skip college ha! twitter.com/kobebryant/sta…

— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) January 6, 2013"

Of course, the funniest has to be the most recent picture that Kobe tweeted.

A story broke about Kobe and Dwight Howard nearly getting into a fight after their New Year's Day loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. The two took to Twitter to make light of the situation.