WWE News: Excessive Use of Twitter Will Damage Overall Product for Fans

The WWE has bombarded fans with trending topics, superstar tweets and other Twitter items over the past few months as they attempt to stay ahead of the social media curve. However, starting to use the site for storyline development would be a massive mistake.

That being said, that's exactly what might start happening. Richard Gray of Wrestling News World reports the company has started to encourage superstars to use Twitter as a way for their character to remain relevant moving forward.

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The Twitter rant posted by Epico about being left off Wrestlemania XXVIII and his lack of television time was a work. WWE has instructed workers to Tweet more in-character as part of their continued commitment to social media.

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Twitter has developed into a useful resource. After all, if there's news breaking, no website will have the information faster since reporters shoot off a quick tweet before writing the full story. However, the WWE has gone overboard with its obsession.

A telecast doesn't go 15 minutes without Michael Cole updating the audience on what's trending at that exact moment. What's more, it's always things that people already know. If Brock Lesnar F-5's John Cena, everybody knows it will be a trending topic in about three minutes.

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Worldwide Trending for WWE #Raw: Brock Lesnar (@DCBrockLesnar), #HereComesThePain, #Raw

— WWE (@WWE) April 3, 2012"

If people really cared what was trending, they could go check themselves. It's not like the information has become some type of secret.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Vince McMahon and company are now encouraging superstars to tweet while in character. That will inevitably lead to Twitter feuds, which will then be featured on either Raw or Smackdown shortly after.

The problem is, not every fan of the WWE has time to surf Twitter every night to see what might be happening on the next show. It only benefits the diehard fans who can't get enough news, and there's already plenty of outlets for that.

Casual fans will be left out to dry because important elements of storylines will be lost in a barrage of tweets. That won't go over well.

Zack Ryder really jump-started the social media frenzy by turning himself into a meaningful superstar after being a jobber for far too long. Between his Twitter account and YouTube show, his fanbase exploded.

For every Ryder, however, there are plenty of superstars who get lost in the shuffle. It's simply not an effective way for character builds to take place in most cases.

Fans liked following WWE stars because they got to receive an inside look at what they go through each week to prepare for the shows. If their timelines will be taken over by in-character tweets, the entertainment value will decrease significantly.

All told, Twitter has become more of a hindrance to watching the WWE than anything else. Hopefully the company realizes that before it's too late.