Simple Guidelines for Twittering Athletes: Follow Kerry Rhodes

Yesterday I wrote a story “Bitten by the Twitter Bug:  Larry Johnson” and in it I say how the tool is not evil, it’s the person using the tool.   Nick, @lebron23NYK made a great analogy in the comments section about guns, and how guns aren’t bad, it’s the people shooting them.

I found this article from “Upon Further Review” on how Twitter should be used for Athletes:

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It’s so simple. Four easy steps, and Twitter can be used for good, not evil.

1. Above all, be funny. You are an athlete. Right or wrong, you live a life the rest of us wish we could. Have fun. The safest person to make fun of is yourself. The right teammate is also a good target. You can also take pictures of things you see, and let fans into your world a little bit.

2. Connect with fans. Shaq is the master at this. For instance, he randomly tweets his location and says the first person to find him gets tickets. You can also have brief, easy exchanges with fans about anything in the world.

This is the easiest way you will ever be able to talk with fans. You can do it on your Blackberry while your chauffer drives your Maybach, and still come across as a man of the people. Ain’t America beautiful?

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Kerry Rhodes is also great at connecting with fans. He hasn’t achieved Shaq status, but he is very popular amongst fans and because he stays true to himself and remains authentic, he is BLOWING UP on Twitter.

Now when the Jets lost the Bills two weeks ago, Kerry disappeared off of Twitter for a couple of days.  I bet he was so frustrated and he didn’t want to regret something he was going to say by a heckling fan or a media reporter.

Kerry was invisible on Twitter 10-21 to 10-22 following a Bad Loss to the Bills

This is exactly what all players should do if they get frustrated.  Cool off and come back when you are ready.  I’m speculating as to why Kerry was off of twitter, but if I were him, I would have done the same thing.

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3. Never ever tweet something you wouldn’t say in front of a TV camera. This should save you from offending any minority group. You may think it’s private, just between you and some faceless follower, but you know they put athletes’ tweets on SportsCenter every day now, right?

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That means you Larry Johnson.  Why do I have a feeling your career is over anyway.  Karma?  Maybe so.

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4. Know yourself. This might be the hardest rule, because if you’re honest with yourself, following it may mean just ignoring Twitter altogether. Royals IF/OF/dog lover Mark Teahen, for instance, does well here. If he responds to fan criticism — and he played for a 97-loss team, so you know there was plenty — it’s almost always with a joke.

Funny always wins. If you can’t ignore a fan, or make a funny — key word there, funny — joke, then you should just stay away from the tweets.

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