Plenty of companies and brands dismissed social media when it first started gaining traction in America. Athletes were among the first people to embrace the trend.
Retired NBA player Shaquille O’Neal sports roughly 5.5 million followers on Twitter. New England Patriots wide receiver Chad Ochocinco has roughly 3.3 million. Both were at the forefront of the social media movement, leveraging their popularity on the court/field into clout and influence off it.
However, it would be physically impossible for both to interact directly with all of their followers; instead each chooses to respond to a handful of the thousands of “@shaq/@ochocinco” tweets they receive.
Yet the lack of online communication between these elite athletes and individual followers doesn’t prove to be a detriment for fans wanting to know the latest on their favorite superstars; mainstream media ensures that major American sports such as basketball and football get covered down to the very last detail.
The opposite rings true for fencing. For years fans of the niche sport had to rely on foreign websites and forums to keep track of their favorite superstars outside of Olympic season. Now they can go directly to the source, for everything from competition updates to advice... more>
Tag(s): News
