Mads Kofod Rasmussen
Aalborg University
English
Twitter as a medium
and its consequences
for media coverage
of the National
Basketball
Association
Bachelor project by Mads Kofod Rasmussen
Aalborg Universitet
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Content
Content
Frontpage
Content
1
2
Abstract
3
1. Introduction
1.1. Delimitation
4
5
2. Media and Sports
2.1 Print Media
2.2 Broadcast Media
2.3 Online Media
5
6
7
7
3. Twitter
3.1 Features
3.2 Communication on Twitter
9
9
10
4. Sports Media and Twitter
11
5. Twitter and Athletes
5.1 Categorizing Athletes’ Tweets
5.2 Motives for Twitter use
14
14
15
6. Twitter complications for NBA players
6.1 Case study: J.R. Smith on Twitter
6.2 Twitter troubles for other NBA players and personalities
16
16
19
7. Reason for players’ Twitter issues
19
8. Strategy for a player’s Twitter use
21
9. Twitter vs. Sports Media: Competition or Asset?
22
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9.1 Consequences for Online Writing
9.2 Live tweeting from games
9.3 NBA.com social media measures
9.4 The asset of Twitter
23
23
25
26
10. Conclusion
27
11. Sources
28
12. Appendixes
12.1 Appendix 1
12.2 Appendix 2
33
33
37
Abstract:
This Project covers the Social Media Service Twitter. It describes its features
and how they impact the Sports Media and players of the national
basketball association.
It places Twitter within the landscape of the Sports Media, and shows the
effects it has had on the traditional parts of the media; the Print Media and
the Broadcast Media. It also covers the relation Twitter has to online sports
writing. It is discussed whether Twitter is competitor or an asset to the
tradition media, and it is found to be a substantial asset. The Sports Media
covering the NBA has already discovered this, and incorporates Twitter in
several ingenious ways to promote their brand. This is both the case for
large official media outlets and smaller independent writers
As well discussing Twitter in the context of sports media, the project
also shows the possibilities and challenges that Twitter offers for the NBA
players. It examines controversial tweets through a case study of the player
NBA player J.R. Smith, as well as smaller examples of other twitter
controversies. The reasons for these are then discussed, and possible
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Twitter Strategies, though complicated, are shown. These strategies are
complicated to employ because the heart of Twitter is personal and
immediate communication, and these two properties are the exact ones
that cause some NBA players trouble on Twitter. The strategies include
using a publicist in different manners, and the players educating
themselves on the nature of Twitter to better understand how to use it,
and how to restrain themselves.
1. Introduction
"The medium is the message”, Canadian philosopher of communication Marshall McLuhan
famously said in his book Understanding Media from 1964. The channel through which we
communicate defines the message. This channel can be defined by the social, cultural, and/or
technological (Valdivia 2005, ch. 2). In this project the technological advance of the social the
consequences for media interaction that the Social Media Service Twitter has will be explored.
Twitter has, along with smart phones changed the way people can communicate. The format
enables and encourages immediate and direct interaction, and makes it possible to receive a lot of
information from a lot of different people instantly. The only requirement is internet access. It can
be accessed from a computer, but the full potential of Twitter is only fully realized when used on a
smart phone with mobile internet access, and a decent camera.
These changes have greatly impacted the world of Sports Media. For several hundred years
media has brought sports to the interested people. Technology has been a defining factor and has
controlled what medium the sports news have been transmitted through. Twitter has become
another example of a way for transmitting sports news. It presents possibilities for the sports
journalists for easy and quick transmission of content to a large number of people. However, it has
also presented the journalists with challenges. Twitter gives fans the possibility to receive sports
info directly from the athlete and coaches and even allows for direct interaction with them. As with
other technological advances such as the telegraph, radio or TV, journalists have to adapt their
coverage to the new medium to be successful. How journalists have to adapt, and how they have
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managed it so far, will be explored through the examples of journalists covering the National
Basketball Association. Based in the United States of America, it is the largest and most popular
league for one of the biggest sports in the world: Basketball. It is popular worldwide and is among
the top league in fans and revenue generated compared to any sport.
Twitter has also opened up new possibilities for athletes. They no longer depend on the
media in the same way to address their fan base. They can share words, pictures and video
instantly with their fans and strengthen their brand and increase their popularity. The instant
availability of an outlet to reach their fans, however, also leaves them with challenges. That kind of
immediate access requires an ability to filter the publications, so content detrimental to the image,
and possibly job security of the athlete is not published. Not everyone is good at filtering
themselves in such a way. The advantages and challenges players face will also be explored through
the examples from the National Basketball Association, henceforth denoted as “the NBA”.
The goal of this project is therefore to examine Twitter and describe the new things it brings
to the Sports Media landscape by comparing it to the traditional forms of Sports Media. This will be
explored in detail by examining the advantages and challenges the media covering the NBA faces
because of Twitter. Furthermore, possibilities and hazards that Twitter use offers NBA players’
examined through specific examples. This leads to the Thesis statement which this project will look
to support: Twitter has changed the Sports Media Landscape covering the NBA and the social
media service offers advantages and challenges for both journalists and NBA players.
1.2 Delimitation
This project will deal will Twitter as a medium, and how it has influenced sports media
coverage both for sports journalists, namely NBA journalists, and athletes in the form of NBA
players. Twitter as a medium, is a broad statement, and could include the technological
advances that has made the Social Media Service possible and subsequently popular. The
technological advances, in terms of hardware, and its on the communication that occurs on
Twitter will not be discussed.
Since the consumers of sports media coverage are fans, their perspective on using
Twitter to gain access to sports content could have been explored. This, however, is not a
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primary focus of this project. Though the subject of fans will be touched upon, the focus will
be on Twitter and its effect on sports media coverage, journalists, and players.
2. Media and Sports
This section will provide information on the nature of Sports coverage. A brief history of Sports
Media will be provided, and after that the three major groups of Sports Media will be described.
These are the Print Media, Broadcast Media, and Online Media. This will set the stage for Twitter to
be introduced and then placed in the content of Sports Coverage.
The relationship between Media and sports is a long standing one. The practice of
reporting from sports events in America goes as far back as the 18th century. Reports from boxing
matches were published in newspapers for interested readers who were not able to be present.
Since then a lot has happened. Technology changed the way sports coverage was provided. First
radio brought competition to the newspapers' sports writing with their live broadcasts with playby-play coverage and later TV beat out radio as the first choice for live broadcasts with their ability
to show live action on the screen. Sports coverage has increased greatly making the major sports
billion dollar businesses and rights to coverage being expensive as well (Hall et al 2007, p. 1-21).
Traditionally, the two major groups of sports media have been the Print Media and the Broadcast
Media. With the rise of the internet Online Media coverage has also sprung up within the last 2
decades. These three groups will now be described in detail.
2.1 Print Media
The Print Media include daily newspapers of varying size and scope, weekly newspapers, national
newspapers, wire Services like Reuters and Associated Press, magazines and specialty magazines.
Since the spread of radio and later TV, Print Media, especially daily newspapers, has had to adapt.
Things that had been a large feature of their coverage before, such as being the first to bring the
result and to report the events of the game in detail, were no longer as relevant. These radio and
TV had covered long before they could ever print it. As a result of that, their coverage had to
change the focus. The problem was solved by changing focus to what they could offer that radio
and TV often could not for lack of time: in-depth analysis. Generally, sports coverage in the Print
Media is allowed a lot more words. This advantage was, and is, used to describe and analyze a
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game thoroughly. So instead of focusing on reporting who won the game, the focus changed to
how and why the game was won or lost. To describe this, newspapers brought interviews with
players and coaches, expert opinions on upcoming or finished games, reports and rumors of
transfers, trades and unrest within teams. Wire Services like Associated Press or Reuters stand out
from in this regard. They did not make this shift, as they still retain a strict focus on the results and
perhaps pictures from an event. They deal in strict information which they forward for a fee to
others parts of Media, both Print and Broadcast, who are interested in the information but are not
able to cover the event themselves. (Hall et al, pp. 21-41, Beck et al 2003, pp- 6-8)
2.2 Broadcast Media
The Broadcasts media includes Radio and TV. These types of media report live from sport events.
TV is the major player of the two and is by far the most popular choice. However, radio coverage
for the major sports is still alive. There are sports that have public interest, but are not televised for
different reasons, which radio then can broadcast. Also, radio allows for people who are driving or
working to follow an event that way, which can bring listeners to the radio even if an event that is
on TV is being covered. Though sports teams make many in several areas such as sponsors, tickets
sales, and social media and other online activity have become lucrative, broadcast media are still
the largest source of income for the bigger sports teams (Hall et al 2007, pp. 41-61, Beck et al, pp 912). In 2011 the NFL, the US’ National Football League, was paid $4,085 billion for the rights to TV,
radio and online broadcasting (CNN money Online). The NBA currently has a deal for the rights to
national broadcast rights, totaling just below 1 billion dollars and experts believe it will double at
the re-negotiation. This large deal, however, does not include local TV-broadcasting rights which
broadcast games to cities or states which are negotiated by the teams individually. And it does not
include worldwide online coverage for these games as well (Ad Age Magazine Online). So
broadcasting rights brings a large amount of money into the large sports like Football and
Basketball in the US.
2.3 Online Media
A third major group in sports coverage that needs to be addressed is Online Media. While primarily
working with the written word, like print journalists, the conditions for online sports writers are
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different in several ways. First of all, it was believed earlier that writing online should be short and
succinct to be successful, especially for sports due to the limited attention span of an online reader.
However, the success of long-form writing has shown that not to be the case. Therefore the
advantage that traditional Print Media seemed to have in writing longer articles is not believed to
be as substantial as it once was (National Sports Journalism Center).
A second difference is that online the writer can easily add pictures and video to illustrate a
point and it is also easy to link to other articles on the same subject. This can contribute greatly
both to short, reporting articles, as well as longer analysis articles. Linking to other articles can
serve as context reading on the subject, to show the article that is made a rebuttal to, or to give
suggestions for further reading on the subject.
A third difference between writing online and for traditional Print Media is that the latter
often defined, and limited, by deadlines. The deadlines are imposed by the physical realities of the
print. A sports journalist on a daily newspaper who is covering an evening game must produce and
edit the material very quickly and submit it to their editor, sometimes within a matter of minutes,
for it to be able to be printed for the morning paper (Hall et al 2007, pp. 21-22). Internet writers do
not face this issue. They do not have a deadline imposed upon them by the physical reality of their
publishing. For them publishing an article is only a click away. If an error has been made or new
information has surfaced, it is easy to edit or add to the article. Of course, writing on the internet
demands deadlines as well, especially if you want to be the first to report something that is widely
covered. But with the in depth articles that both the traditional print media and online media
produce, the online writers have a clear advantage.
A fourth difference is the availability the writing is afforded in each outlet. An article
published online is basically accessible all over the world, which offers a larger viewership for
possible advertisement. A traditional newspaper has a much more limited scope.
Another difference is the larger degree of independence that is possible for the online
writer. It is possible to publish things without having to go through an editor. This has its
advantages, and disadvantages. An editor can help improve and streamline the writing, but can
also demand that the writing adheres to certain stylistic parameters, which can limit the writer and
the possible popularity of the writing. Writing independently online, can also offer the challenge of
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getting your sports writing seen. If you’re able to write for the major online sites for NBA; nba.com,
ESPN, Yahoo Sports, NBC Sports, CBS sports, Grantland.com, Bleacherreport.com, you already have
a large audience for your writing. If you write independently, you face the challenge of creating a
following for your writing. Twitter has made this easier, and this will be explored in detail later. So
to summarize, Online writing is similar to Print Media and can cover a lot of the same stories in a
similar manner. However, the conditions of writing online are different on several key issues.
Therefore it makes more sense to have Online Writers, which include fans, prolific bloggers, and
professional journalists, as their own category rather than having them as a subcategory of Print
Media.
3. Twitter
In this part of the project the Social Media Service Twitter will be described. Its functions and what
they are used for will be explained. A large portion of this section, especially the purely descriptive
parts gets its content from a thorough examination of Social Media Service itself online. This is the
reason for the low number of sources cited in this section. However, for perspectives on the
consequences of the nature of Twitter Michele Zappavigna’s book Discourse of Twitter and Social
Media has been drawn upon.
3.1 Features
Twitter is an online micro-blogging service. Each publication, called a Tweet, is limited to 140
characters. The service is usable on a computer, a smart phone and through regular SMS text
messages. . It is not necessary to create original content in every tweet. It is possible to tweet links,
and it is possible to forward other peoples tweets by retweeting them. The original tweet is then
forwarded. The Tweet will still appear as published by the original author. The only difference from
the original is that it will be stated in the bottom that it is retweeted by another account. The front
page for a user is their Twitter feed. Here the tweets from the people they follow show up. They
appear as they are being published, or tweeted, so the newest tweet will be on top of the page. It is
easy to follow other people. There are usually no restrictions on following people, though it is
possible to screen who follows you.
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To make it easier to follow and interact with other accounts and people, each account has
what is called a handle. A handle is a short nickname of maximum 15 characters with a “@” at the
beginning. It makes it easier for people to find and follow a specific account, and helps ensure the
integrity of accounts since fake accounts are not uncommon. The handle also allows a user to
mention other users in their tweets. When a handle is mentioned, it turns into a link to the said
account. This is very useful for several purposes, as it allows for people to mention and refer to
other accounts in their tweets.
A prominent feature on Twitter is hashtags. Twitter made this feature famous, and it has
since been adapted by several other Social Media giants. You use it by writing a “#” sign in front of
a word. This makes the word into a link. When clicking on the word you are directed to a page with
Tweets that contain the same hashtag. It shows the newest tweets first, and is updated as new
tweets with that hashtag are being tweeted. It shows all posts on Twitter, not just the ones made
by your followers. If a hashtag becomes popular enough it will appear in a box on the twitter feed
labeled trending. This box contains the most popular hashtags and sometimes specific words
recently used. The box can be customized to show the trending hashtags or topics of a city, region,
country or worldwide. Hashtags are very much related to what Michele Zappavigna describes as
"Searchable Talk" (pp 6-7.). The searchable talk features makes it easy to find specific categories
that are being talked about on Twitter. It makes it easier for people to connect with people of the
same interests and it helps keep users interested in the service since it makes it easy for them to
find what they are interested in (Twitter.com)
3.2 Communication on Twitter
The format and functions of Twitter encourages real time action and connection. Firstly, the
short format of 140 characters limits long describing accounts. It is necessary to make it clear
within few characters what you are talking about. This encourages talking about things that are
well-known to a group of other people. The short format and the ability to use Twitter from a
mobile phone also encourages tweeting about events as they are happening and while you are
experiencing them, and the advent of smart phones and high quality cameras makes it natural to
attach a picture to show what you are tweeting about.
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Another aspect which encourages real time publications and interaction is the noticeable
time element involved in Twitter. Tweets are shown with the amount of time that has passed since
it was tweeted. This time aspect keeps Twitter as a real time action social media. As mentioned
earlier tweets are often being published at the same time as an event it is commenting on. This
aspect of twitter has become especially used by NBA fans and reporters who often have ongoing
conversations back and forth about games, players, coaches and highlights as they are going on.
This openness allows for people talking about the same things to quickly connect with each other.
If a journalist is reporting on a sports event and mentions an athlete and his/her handle in a tweet
it will be easily accessible for the followers of said athlete. Re-tweeting also allow for expanding the
audience of tweets and thereby makes it possible to include other people in a conversation you are
having with a person on Twitter. Examples of events that have featured heavily in Twitter’s real
time action scope are the 2008 Presidential Election, a large public event, the death of Michael
Jackson in 2009, celebrity news, and natural disasters such as the Sichuan eathquakes of 2008
(Zappavigna p. 4)
In terms of promoting interaction, the openness of Twitter helps. On Twitter you can follow
just about anybody and almost instantly get in touch with people who are tweeting about the
subjects that interest you. On Twitter it is also possible to follow famous people’s personal
accounts. Singers, actors, athletes, journalists, politicians and more use it as an easy way to reach
their fans, readers or voters. Of course some of these people do not update their own accounts,
electing to have assistants and publishers do it for them. However, many celebrities, especially NBA
athletes, personally control their Twitter accounts.
Some NBA players are very expressive on Twitter. This has given them problems because
their statements have not always been appropriate in several different ways. Of course that does
not make the players on Twitter any less interesting for fans and media. Twitter’s format promotes
direct communication about events as they are happening. It is easy for the user to find topics he
or she is interested in, and it is easy to get in touch with other people who are interested in the
same content. (Zappavigna 2012 p.1-15, Twitter.com)
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4. Sports Media and Twitter
In this section the functions of Twitter will be connected with the needs of Sports Media. It will be
examined how NBA media and athletes can use Twitter to further their needs. First a short
introduction on the current state of a noticeable shift that has occurred in communication will be
described. Twitter is a large part of this shift, and it is because of this shift that NBA players and
Media can benefit greatly from competent use of Twitter.
The general flow of communication today has shifted from mass media to media that focuses
on interactivity. Instead of the mass media sending a message that the public then receives, there
is now to a larger degree many transmitters and many receivers.
Communication is being
decentralized. Along with that communication is being sped up due to the instant accessibility that
new technology has afforded. The internet and social media are key reasons for both these things.
(Valdivia 2010, ch. 2). Twitter embodies decentralization and accelerated communication. The shift
has also occurred in Sports Media and in the coverage of NBA. It is therefore necessary for to be
able to navigate and use Social Media Twitter
It is easy to find the things that interest you on Twitter. This is especially true if you know
what you are looking for, like a person, but also if your idea is more vague. If you are searching for
a specific person it is easy to find with a simple search. If you are searching for subjects like
“Basketball” or “NBA” it is also very easy to find, both through hashtags, but also on a keyword
search because the content of every tweet is searchable. The openness of Twitter which includes
that everything is searchable across the world, that it is easy to refer to other accounts, and that it
is possible to follow just about everyone instantly makes it very useful. This is the case for common
users which in the context of Sports are fans. It is equally useful for public personas who want to
address and communicate with their fans, and perhaps gain new ones.
In terms of Sports and Sports Media, Twitter can be used both by the Print Media, the
Broadcast media, and Online Media. They can use the function of searchable talk to gather find
information on subjects, and to monitor trends in what interests the public. The groups can also
use it to monitor athletes’ tweets, and then subsequently report and discuss them in their outlets;
on Print, on radio or TV, or in online articles. Of course Print Media has little business in trying to be
the first to report something, as they have the technological disadvantage of having to print it
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which takes time. It takes a lot of time compared to how quickly 24-hour sports TV networks like
ESPN or Sports talk radio can report, and even the speed of that can seem pale in comparison to
how quickly it can be reported by online Sports news outlets.
In terms of monitoring athlete’s accounts, many athletes have a lot of followers, some have
millions. Not all followers notice every tweet, and tweets can be deleted again. Often the more
controversial tweets made in a moment of anger are quickly removed. However, the damage is
done if some part of the media notices it and manages to take a screenshot of it.
Another way in which Sports Media, Broadcast Media and Online Media specifically, can use
Twitter is to take questions from fans submitted on Twitter. These can be answered through direct
interaction on Twitter. In terms of the Broadcast media be brought up by talk show hosts and for
commentators during game breaks. The function of entering questions for a program has of existed
for a long time, first through letters and phone calls then through text messages and e-mails. Due
to the openness of Twitter however, the possibility is added for people not in the studio to view the
questions and discuss them even they fail to be brought up on the broadcast. Besides asking for
people to submit questions, Twitter can also be used to support the broadcast of a program by
reporters tweeting commentary and opinions on the ongoing events. This can serve to heighten
interest for a game. Both for the people who are not watching, who can be drawn to turn on the
game by the tweets, and for the people who are already watching it, to add another element to the
coverage that makes it more interesting.
So for any user it is easy for to find likeminded people to discuss a sports event with, and it
is easy to follow ones favorite athletes or sports organizations. For organizations it offers an outlet
where it is easy to reach fans across the world, provide information, polish their brand, and to
advertise. Twitter also makes it possible for them to gauge the mood of the fan base.
For athletes Twitter is an easy outlet to reach the fans. It allows them to connect directly
with their fans with no middleman needed. What athletes choose to tweet to their fans on their
profile and through interaction with others differ. It ranges from announcements, like the severity
an injury, recovery from an injury, signing a new contract, or making the decision to retire,
excitement for an upcoming game or a victory, to responses to on going media debate about the
athlete ,sometimes even angry outbursts or heated discussions, and endorsement
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For journalists, commentators, game correspondents and TV-personalities covering the NBA
Twitter is also very useful. Among them there are also different types of tweeters. Some only use
their accounts when at work, using their accounts to engage fans and use the tweets as talking
points on TV. Some offer statements off-air and are willing to engage in conversation about them.
Others give ongoing commentary during live games. These uses of Twitter will now be explored in
more detail through case studies of several NBA players and media personalities.
5. Twitter and Athletes
This section will examine the Twitter use of athletes through a 2010 study that analyzed and
categorized a large number of tweets from athletes of the most popular, American Sports. Content
analysis was used for the categorization of tweets. Gratification theory was used to explain the
reason for people using Twitter. These two methods will be described, and the results of the study
will be reported. To end the section, the results and their implications will be discussed.’
5.1 Categorizing Athletes’ Tweets
The study of Hambriek et al, analyzed close to 2000 tweets from professional athletes from
America and used Content Analysis to categorize them in 5 groups. Content analysis is defined as
“any qualitative and sense-making effort that takes a volume of qualitative material and attempts
to identify core consistencies and meanings” (p. 459). The five groups were: Interactivity, Diversion,
Information, Content, Fanship, and Promotional.
Interactivity covers the tweets that are direct communication with other people regardless of
subject. The Diversion category is tweets with non-sport related subjects. The Information sharing
group is tweets that provide details and insights on the athletes’ activities in sports such as training,
competition, performance and results. Content is links, pictures, videos, game summaries etc. The
Fanship category concerns the tweets where the athletes discuss sport other than their own team
or teammates. It can be other sports entirely, or it can be discussions about other teams in the
league with their fans. Lastly the tweets in the Promotional category are those where an athlete
endorses sponsorships, upcoming games, special offers of discounted tickets or giveaway etc (p.
460)
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The largest category was Interactivity. It amounted to 34 % of the tweets, which indicated
that athletes in large part used Twitter for interaction. This interaction occurred both with fans and
with other athletes. Diversion was the second largest group of tweets coming in at 28 %. Athletes,
like most people, engage in many activities that does not concern their work life. Typical subjects
for tweets in this category are activities with the family or friends. Information sharing made up 15
% of the tweets analyzed. This extra content, often of a “behind the scenes”-nature is very
interesting to a lot of fans. Content was the 4th largest group with 13 %. Promotional tweets were
the second to smallest group with 5 %. Athletes did not did not employ the medium of Twitter
often for endorsing products or events, though athletes are popular endorsers for advertising
companies. The smallest category of tweets was the fanship category. It also came in a 5 % though
with 10 tweets less than the Promotional category. Though the subject was deemed common
enough by the researchers to make a specific category, it was not found that athletes spend a lot of
time talking about sports other than their own. (Hambriek et al 2010, pp. 461-462)
5.2 Motives for Twitter use
The athlete can offer insights into his training, physical or mental state before a contest, show
different sides of them and talk about other interests. Fans are interested in this kind of content.
Hambriek et al, report in International Journal of Sport Communication that several studies show
that sports fans’ online activities are guided by the same motives as their off-line activities. These
motives include interest in sport, team, players, team support, information, knowledge, escape,
vicarious achievement, family bonding, and social opportunities (p. 458). Gratification theory
explains why these needs are sought to be fulfilled online. This theory focuses that stems from
communications theory, focuses “how users engage in different activities and their motives for
doing so” (p. 457). The theory has been used to identify three motives for online activity, which can
be applied to Twitter use as well. These are: interactivity, demassification, and asynchroneity.
Interactivity covers interaction with other people. Demassification means that the user has the
ability to choose actions that interest them. Asynchroneity is when the person can chose when to
engage in the activities when they see fit. All these three can be achieved on the internet, and on
Twitter. (p. 457)
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The three motives for online activity can be applied to Twitter. It explains why Twitter has
become so popular. It allows for interaction across the globe and with people that are often not
easily accessible; celebrities, in this case NBA players. Twitter allows for the players to be in direct
contact with their fans and vice versa. The ability to follow people who interest you and to easily
search keywords and hashtags fulfill the demassification criteria. It makes it easy to find one’s
interests. The asynchroneity is also present on Twitter. It is possible to access whenever it fits the
user. However, the real-time element of Twitter, the fact one’s twitterfeed is constantly updated if
a moderate number of people is followed, challenges the asynchroneity. Access is not required at
specific times and Tweets can be found on Twitter until they are deleted. However, not accessing
Twitter for a long time can lead to a person overlooking tweets that they might find interesting.
Also if a sports fan waits take very long pauses between accessing Twitter the content will be
picked up by other Media Outlets such as TV and Radio, and Twitter becomes redundant. It is
possible to receive notifications from Twitter on a smart phone in the form of a sound or vibration
whenever a tweet is published. This would solve the problem of overlooking and missing out on
Tweets, but it would further challenge the asynchroneity. It would challenge a person’s ability to
access Twitter when it is convenient for them, and would be tempting to access it when the
notifications demand it.
6. Twitter complications for NBA players
To examine athletes’ Twitter use, the Twitter activities of controversial Tweeter NBA player J.R.
Smith will now be presented. This is to add more current knowledge for the analysis as the study of
Hambriek et al discussed previously was published in 2010. It will add an additional perspective on
athletes’ twitter use, and it will focuses on specifically on an NBA player, whereas the study
previously discussed focuses on several sports. The case study of J.R. Smith will also be provided to
highlight issues with NBA players’, and thus athletes’, Twitter use. He problematic tweets highlight
the different ways in which a professional athlete can get in trouble through Twitter. After the case
study of Smith some short examples of issues for other players will be presented to show that the
issues are not limited only to Smith. They have been of a wider character throughout the NBA.
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6.1 Case study: J.R. Smith on Twitter
J.R. Smith’s Twitter profile does not appear anything out of the ordinary at a cursory glance.
Looking at 25 tweets between December 8th and December 19th 14:46 Central European Time, and
analyzing them through Content Analysis, shows that 36 % were Diversion, 32 % Information
Sharing, 24 % Interaction, 8 % Content, 4 % Fanship, and 4 % Promotional (Appendix 1). He tweets
reactions to games, pictures from games, pictures of his family, pictures of himself to show his
clothes and shoes, Tweets that interact with fans or with his brother who is also his teammate.
Though his tweets do not fit the average percentage from the Hambriek et al 2010 study, the way
his tweets fit the categories are not uncommon. The content of his tweets are also in line with the
motives of sports fans stated by the study. Where Smith stands out as a tweeter, however, is
through controversial Tweets which have gotten him in trouble repeatedly. He therefore is a good
example to illustrate the problems athletes can get into through their Twitter use.
The first example of Smith’s controversial tweets that will be highlighted is from 2010. In
February of that year 25 year old Smith playing in his 6th season, an above average Shooting Guard
coming off the bench for the Denver Nuggets, a top 8 team in the league (basketballreference.com
1) decided to tweet a taunt about one of the best players in the league at that time, and possibly
ever, 32 year old shooting guard Kobe Bryant playing his 14th season for the reigning and eventual
NBA champions that season. The tweet read: “Don’t get me wrong kobe is great but not when he
play me”. The tweet was published in the week leading up to a nationally televised game between
the teams of the two players. Both top teams in their Western Conference (NBC Sports 1). Some
perhaps fail to see the problem in one player writing derogatory comments to another player that
he is going to face in an important game, especially when the two players play the same position
and can be expected to go head to head in the game. To many people the tweet actually adds to
the excitement of the important game, because it adds the storyline of whether Smith will be able
to back up his words on the court. However, Smith’s Coach and teammates might not share this
view, and may have preferred for him to not say anything rather than insult and add motivation for
the other team’s best player, one of the best players ever. So this is an example where an athlete
tweeting can be problematic, obviously for the athlete personally but also for his team. The tweet
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possibly disrupts team chemistry and unity regardless of how it affected Bryant and Smith for the
upcoming game.
Another controversial tweet from Smith came in March 2012. Smith tweet “I can’t watch
the game like this! Damn you @RealTahiry”. In the tweet was embedded a picture of the model
Tahiry Jose lying in her underwear on the bed of a hotel room. Smith was fined 25.000 $ by the
NBA for posting an inappropriate photo of a woman (fullcourtpumps.com 1). Though some would
argue that the picture in itself is not that offensive compared to the amount of skin shown in music
videos or even by NBA cheerleaders, it led to Smith drawing unwanted attention and debate
towards the NBA and its players. It can also be expected that the team Smith was representing at
the time was not thrilled with him drawing that kind of attention to himself and to the team. This is
an example of where tweets can be trouble for a player because of policies set in place by his
employers; his team, and the NBA. These policies are not available to the broad public in detail.
Press releases are made when someone violates them, or when changes are made to them.
A third controversy involving J.R. Smith and twitter was when he was captured on a picture
at a club during the NBA 2013 playoffs in which his team was competing where he was not
performing well, and they had a game the following day. The picture was not tweeted by Smith
himself but by a fan. Smith took to Twitter to rebuff rumors that he had been out partying.
(fullcourtpumps.com 2) This is an example of the immediacy and availability of Twitter presenting
an athlete with a problem. Smith claimed that he had not been out clubbing, but was at the
establishment to watch a boxing match. Whether that is true or not is not the interesting thing, but
that the picture appeared quickly online and quickly entered into the media debate of why Smith
was struggling to play well in the playoffs leading to Smith denying the rumors. Only a few years
ago when Twitter and similar Social Media Services did not exist the Smith picture would not have
surfaced as quickly and easily to become a media talking point. So this example illustrates the
problems athletes can face through social media even when they are not posting themselves.
In November this year Smith was at it again on Twitter. Fellow NBA player Brandon Jennings
of the Detroit Pistons questioned in tweets the decision of the New York Knicks, J.R. Smith’s team,
to sign Smith’s younger brother Chris to one of their last roster spots. Jennings mentioned
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insinuated that Chris Smith did not deserve his contract, but only got it because of his brother. J.R.
took offense to that and an exchange of tweets occurred that ended with him tweeting
“Might call some of my Number street homies an put #Detroit on a smash for a min! #DeadSerious”
The NBA did not find that appropriate for a player to tweet and after investigation, they fined
Smith 25.000 $ for the tweet. This example underlines the interactivity of Twitter and how quickly
one can be drawn into a conversation even, though the tweeters are miles apart and did not even
tweet directly at each other.
6.2 Twitter troubles for other NBA players and personalities
Smith is not the only example of NBA players who has had issues over their use of Twitter. Los
Angeles Clippers player Matt Barnes was fined by the NBA in November 2013 for a tweet with
included a racial slur tweeted from the locker room following an ejection from a game (NBC Sports
4). In 2010, Dallas Mavericks Owner Marc Cuban, and Orlando Magic Center Dwight Howard, one
of the most popular players on Twitter, was fined by the NBA for tweeting criticizing comments
about officiating. Player Charlie Villanueva snuck away from the team during half-time of game to
tweet a comment about the game. This angered his head coach and was part of the NBA explicitly
banning tweets by NBA players and staff during games (Bleacher Report 1, pp. 1-5). Carmelo
Anthony, at the time star of the Denver Nuggets, posted a bounty for anyone who would slap
celebrity groupie/reality personality Kat Stacks and tape it after she had started tweeting about the
married Anthony (Yahoo Sports 1, NBC sports 5).
7. Reasons for NBA players’ Twitter issues
This section will include a discussion of the pro and cons of NBA players Twitter use. The main focus
of it will be on the issues that have been had, to try to pinpoint the reasons for these troubles. A
discussion of this will lead into the next section where a possible Twitter strategy will be discussed
As demonstrated, using Twitter can give NBA players problems. These problems include
disrupting team unity through tweets angering coaches and teammates, violating league or team
policy with offensive tweets. This can be a problem both for tweets which have their root in the
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player himself, in situations where another tweeter draws a player into a conversation by people
tweeting to them, and lastly by fans posting pictures of the player on twitter from inopportune
locations and points in time. These problems, though, did not come into existence with Twitter,
and can not be attribute only to the social media. Comments from a player that disrupt team unity
or bring him on collision course with their coach, making their way to the media are not unheard or
even uncommon of before the advent of Twitter or the internet. For instance former NBA star Allen
Iverson and his coach Larry Brown went back and forth in the media from 1998-2002 (Sports
illustrated). Newspapers and TV reported such things back then. Players have been fined by the
NBA for making inappropriate comments about other players about referees and officiating for a
long time. Dennis Rodman, at the time playing for Chicago Bulls, was fined $50,000 by the NBA for
comments regarding Mormons during the 1997 NBA finals when his team played the Utah Jazz, a
state that has a large number of Mormons (New York Times 1).
So Twitter did not create the problems of NBA players doing controversial acts. What
Twitter does, is to enhance the chances for such acts to become public by vastly diminishing the
distance between the athlete and the sports fan. This is because Twitter limits the obstacles and
filters between the athlete and the fan. This illustrates well how Twitter contributes to
communication becoming decentralized and sped up. Access to mass media is no longer necessary
in the same degree to reach a large number of people. People can, alone or in small groups easily
publish things online. It has been sped up in the way that what is published is instantly accessible
by other people online. This has obvious advantages, and disadvantages. The disadvantage is that
the distance between thought and action has become much shorter. As illustrated by the Twitter
issues presented earlier, some NBA players have problems with this. They express views on Twitter
without filtering themselves. Without Twitter such views might only have been expressed to
friends and family in the direct vicinity of the player to seek support for a frustration or view, but
with Twitter, and its frequent usage on smart phones, it is just as easy to express an opinion to
one’s thousands of followers.
Previously, if someone wanted to express an opinion at other times than media availability
and reach a large number of people to gain support and validation for his ideas, it would have been
necessary to call up a member of the media, print or broadcast, and express the view and ask for it
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to be covered on the media outlet. In such a scenario there are several filters that hinder brash
action on the part of the athlete. The time element, as well as the measures needed to contact a
journalist would provide a substantial filter that would allow for reconsideration.
The accessibility of Twitter puts outspoken, expressive personality types in danger of
expressing things detrimental to their income, image and ultimately job security. There has not yet
been an example in the NBA of a person being fired for controversial Tweets, but it is assumed that
controversial players like J.R. Smith have a harder time finding teams to bid for his services when
he is between contracts.
8. Strategy for a player’s Twitter use
The Sports Media, both small and large, are utilizing Twitter in several different ways. They are
mining it for information from Twitter users, live-tweeting from events, promoting articles, taking
questions, interacting with sports fans, discussing issues.
Players are using it to share inside content, to interact with fans, to share parts of their lives aside
from basketball, to promote sponsors, and to show their support for other athletes. Some players
however, struggle with their Twitter use, and get in trouble for it most notably J.R. Smith. This has
cost him money in terms of fines and has been a part of why he is labeled as a troublemaker by
many people in and around the NBA. A player like that, or a young player who is in danger of
making the same mistakes, could profit from having a strategy for his Twitter use.
The easy and traditional solution for a wealthy player would be to hire a publicist to take care
of all his public dealings, including Twitter. This, however, would greatly limit the good things that
Twitter can do for him. As demonstrated, where Twitter functions well, and where a player can
better his brand, image and fan following is in the personal interaction. In the interaction with fans,
in sharing of information, pictures, and video, in commenting on other games or sports, and in
showing another side of him other than just the athlete. A publicist fully administering at Twitter
account for someone else is likely to struggle to give the personal touch that Twitter followers
demand. The most retweeted tweets by NBA players of 2013 all have a personal touch, and often
some edge to them. (Sports Illustrated 2)
With that being said, a person like J.R. Smith, with a history of getting fined for his Twitter
conduct, might benefit from a little counseling so he can change his understanding of how to use
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Twitter, unless he wants to keep paying the fines. Making a Twitter strategy is a complicated thing.
Since Twitter is accessible from a smartphone, which a person usually always carries around with
them, it is hard to apply a filter to a person’s tweeting, if the person does not have that filter
themselves. J.R. Smith has shown himself to be a person with very little filter. So the best strategy
is to work with self-control and being able to think twice before acting. That is of course a lot easier
said than done. However, there is not much of and alternative. One might speculate in solutions
such as uninstalling the Twitter App for your smartphone, and only accessing Twitter from the
computer at home. Pictures could then be tweeted when you came home, and reactions to the
events that J.R. Smith attends could be tweeted when he came home. This solution however,
would remove one of the largest components of Twitter: the real time action. The risk is that the
delay, with which the tweets would occur, then would hinder their popularity.
The closest thing to a middle of the road solution, without learning self-constraint is to have
Smith tweet himself, but have a publicist with access to his account hired to look at every tweet
immediately as it is tweeted, and then delete it, if it is problematic. With this strategy, however,
you run the risk of a fan or a sports writer managing to take a screen shot of the tweet before it is
deleted.
So the nature of Twitter with its immediate personal publishing that is always at hand makes
it very hard to control what people publish if they do not control it themselves. And if you control
it, you hinder what the benefits of the Social Media Service are; the immediate, personal
publications and interactions.
9. Twitter vs. Sports Media: Competition or Asset?
The results of the study made by Hambriek et al and to some degree the examples of J.R. Smith and
others’ show that Twitter has entered into areas of sports coverage that was previously reserved
for reports of the traditional Print and Broadcast media and given new possibilities for fan, athlete,
and reporter. Firstly, Twitter allows for direct interaction with an athlete, something that a fan
could only experience if they happened to meet the athlete in real life at some point, or indirectly if
a question they submitted was being asked to an athlete in an interview. , regarding information
sharing and content, the “behind the scenes”-look that so many fans enjoy, which were exclusively
presented by the Print or Broadcast Media earlier, can now also be directly transmitted from the
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athlete to the fan. The athlete has full authority over what he or she publishes to the fans. There is
no filter between them and the content that reaches the fans, which people such as reporters,
editors, photographers and the likes that can influence and shape.. This has the advantage that the
athlete has full control over what that is to be shared with the fans. It gives athletes the freedom to
administer his or her image branding. This degree of freedom was not possible earlier. It also can
lessen the need for an athlete to hire a publicist to arrange and handle media interaction.
The nature of the features of Twitter might lead one to believe that Twitter is threatening
the product of print and broadcast media. This however, is not the case. Though several features of
Twitter, as demonstrated, allow for athletes and fans to circumvent the traditional media, their
product is still very valuable and used. The traditional print media has a strong competitor in online
writers. This has been realized, and almost every major newspaper now has an online outlet as
well. However, comma this competition has occurred independently of Twitter. Twitter is not
responsible for this.
9.1 Consequences for Online writing
Twitter has a possibility for more independent writers to gain a large following. Just as it is easy for
athletes to reach their fans, it is easy for sports writers to reach sports fans through Twitter and
redirect them to their homepage through links. (Appendix 3, 1). This makes it possible for sports
writers to reach a large audience and if they strike a chord with fans, they can become popular very
fast. Their work can be shared quickly online between a lot people.
Besides promoting articles a lot of sports writers also use Twitter to bring small reports such
as news of trades, injuries, rumors, coaches being hired or fired, the mood within a team and such
things. Twitter allows them to report it to the fans instantly ahead of TV or radio. The sports writers
who closely follow NBA teams, who often travel with them and attend a lot of their games, can
therefore report the inside information they gather instantly. This kind of information is very
popular among fans (Hambriek et al, pp. 457, 461-462). Reporting such things can help the writers
getting a large twitter following, thereby expanding the number of people who see it when they
publish larger articles. Reporting inside information also supports a sports writer’s credibility when
he is writing in depth articles that rely on such information. For writers who are not closely
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involved with a team, they can follow other writers who are and thereby quickly gain the useful
information that they report.
9.2 Live tweeting from games
Twitter, and its real time action format, allows for the feature of live-tweeting. Sports Writers
report directly from games they are watching either live or on TV. When live, the focuses of their
tweets are often on things not easily visible for people watching at home such as facial expressions,
words exchanged between coaches or players, body language etc, as well as giving their comments
and opinions on the events of the game. When they report from watching the game on TV the
tweets focus on bringing their comments and opinions about the events of the game. Along with
reporting from a game the Sports Writers can also engage followers with competitions for the best
tweets regarding a game they are tweeting about. An example of a reporting from a game has been
attached as Appendix 2. It is from the game between The San Antonio Spurs and The Dallas
Mavericks from December 27th. It contains descriptive tweets that only highlight events: “Patty
resists the urge to PU3IT, passes to Ginobili who finds Diaw for the layup. Spurs by 11!” (30) “Boris
Diaw just dribbled over Monta Ellis’ head” (15), “DUNCAN OUTLETS” (11) and “that’s it everybody!
Spurs win 116-107!” (1). There are commenting tweets with clear opinions in them “I don’t think
Dirk has missed a fadeaway jumper by more than an inch since 2007” (28), “Winner RT @mdeleon:
Boy am I glad the ppl that wanted to trade Danny Green a week ago aren’t RC Buford” (27), “Please
tell me we’re coming down the pike and it’s Dirk vs. Tim” (13), “HOLY COW”, (10) “Parker drives
:((((“ (9).
These tweets show that a sports writer can use Twitter to cover a game and produce
content similar to that which would be provided after a game. In an article summing up a game the
two categories presented in the excerpt of live-tweeting is often present as well; the comments
that describe events and the comments that give a kind of analysis and opinion. A typical recap of a
game would recount the events of the game, and provide a short analysis with a possible opinion
alongside it (NBC Sports 6).
In the shown sequence of tweets, the same thing occurs, however, it is just fragmented.
The fragmentation is both due to the immediate nature of the comments and the character
limitation on the tweets. The tweets are published as the game unfolds, not with the overview of
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the whole game as it would be if it was done after the game. So to summarize, this kind of
reporting is fragmented, sped up, immediate, game reporting with much the same content as a
game review would have, however without the hindsight of knowing the result, but with the added
emotional effect of specific plays. Some Sports Media have made specific Twitter accounts for live
tweeting from sports events. An example of this is the account @GrantlandLive.
9.3 NBA.com social media measures
Following along the lines of live tweeting, the NBA has introduced immediate highlights from
games that are instantly shareable on social media. The clips are taken from the internet
broadcasting called League Pass which broadcasts the TV feeds online for every game for a fee. The
clips, however, are free of charge and along with the clips are shown graphs of how much each clip
has been shared. Along with seeing the popularity of videos and how much they are shared, it is
also possible call up graphs that show how often name of a certain player or team has featured on
social media. The tool incorporates mentions both on Twitter and Facebook (NBA.com 2). This
feature serves to entice fans not watching the game to either turn on the game from their local
cable provider, or to purchase the League Pass coverage so they can watch the game online. For
people already watching the game it add the feature of seeing how popular a highlight is on Twitter
and the other large social media. Mentioning players, games or a specific highlight in tweets, can
be made easily findable for other twitter users through using the feature of hashtags. An example a
hashtag from a specific highlight becoming very popular on twitter is the #RIPBrandonKnight
hashtag that was used when another player humiliated jumping over him and dunking the ball
(UPI.com)
The NBA’s media department also uses a hashtag for promotion. It is #NBA. They use it to
show on their homepage to make an overview of their mentions on social media. This page they
call NBA Social Spotlight and it is shown on a part of NBA’s main page nba.com. It provides an extra
perspective from inside the sport with text, pictures and short videos from the games. They contain
things such as players arriving at the game, warming up, doing interviews, fans having fun at the
game. As well as tweets and pictures containing the #NBA hashtag or tweet at the NBA’s official
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Twitter account @NBA, the Social Spotlight also shows tweets and pictures of NBA players, coaches
and official sports writers (nba.com 3). The fact that the two social media services are so easily
searchable gives the NBA a vast resource of content to mine of pictures and insights that fans,
players, coaches or writers provide. At first glance it might be thought that it could be dangerous
for the NBA’s brand have such a page because is possible to get on it quite easily just by using the
hashtag. However, the fact that tweets by players, coaches and reporters that do not use the
hashtag are shown on the page, indicates that there is some kind of editing or oversigt involved in
making the page. It is therefore very unlikely that a tweet containing the hashtag #NBA with
inappropriate content, or content that the NBA does not want to have associated with their brand
will appear on the Social Spotlight.
9.4 The asset of Twitter
Twitter is an asset for the traditional media outlets. It is another way to represent athletes
and content, but it does not encroach on the core content of the traditional media. Regarding text,
the fact that a tweet is limited to 140 characters makes it impossible to do in-depth analysis
directly on Twitter which makes it necessary to link to articles on other pages. It thereby does not
change the core content of Sports Writers. Regarding the broadcast media though you can link to
illegal rebroadcasting of sports games online on Twitter, it is relatively easy to find through
searching for keywords and then report the illegal activity for the Broadcast media if the tweet with
the link has a description that contains the names of the teams involved. However, as mentioned
there are numerous ways that Twitter can support both online Print Media and Broadcast Media.
The entrance of Twitter on the Sports media scene and the way that sports journalists have
adapted because to using it can be compared to the entrance of the other media. Newspaper,
radio or TV coverage provided a new way to cover sports and changed the jobs of sports
journalists. Radio called for action packed language immediate transmission of the words for those
not present at the game, but close to a radio. TV provided the ability to broadcast pictures. Twitter
along with smart phones that allow for constant internet access, provides a new medium for
transmitting content in another way than it was possible before. Twitter allows for quick
transmission of text, pictures and links to a following and it is easy searchable. It provides things
that were not possible to the same extent before. Therefore it is necessary for sports journalists to
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consider the way they cover things. Therefore it is comparable to when newspapers started
covering sports. They allowed sports fans to have a part of the event without being present at the
event by conveying what happened through words on paper.
10. Conclusion
Sports media covers sports intensively. With the traditional outlets of Print Media, with Magazines
and newspapers, the Broadcast Media with TV, Radio and online broadcasting, and the newer
player on the field online writing, Sports fans have intensive coverage to follow. This is no less the
case for a popular league such as the NBA. Twitter has contributed to that, empowering fans,
media and athletes to communicate with a large group of people. With its immediate and personal
interaction Twitter has changed Media Coverage and Athletes interactions with their fans.
Sports Media can use Twitter to contribute to their own coverage by interaction with fans
about the coverage, both under and after, and they can use it to give an extra, personal and
immediate angle. They can also use it to monitor it for information the can pass on their readers,
viewers, and listeners, as well as us it to pass that information itself on.
The NBA players can use it to interact with their fans, to pass on content to their fans and
show them who they are without having to go through the media as they had to previously. They
can cultivate their personal brand and image, and can use it to promote business partners.
However, the power of the ability to immediately address and share content with a large number
of fans, the public, can also work against a player if they write or show something that is not good
that is deemed inappropriate by their employer and/or their fans.
Twitter has provided both media and players with new possibilities to reach the fans.
Twitter gives easy access to quick information for its users, and it fulfills the needs of both internet
users and sports fans. Its format contributes greatly to a decentralized and sped up media
landscape that focuses on interaction between smaller users rather than the traditional mass
media’s transmission of more streamlined, singular messages. Twitter provides great possibility for
the user to delve into matters that interest them, and to interact with other users about. It seems
that Twitter is here to stay, and it does not seem likely that its significance for sports coverage will
shrink. The creative ways in which large sports corporations like NBA have started to use Twitter,
suggests that such a trend will continue in the future.
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11. Sources
Books:
Zappavigna, Michele , Discourse of Twitter & Social Media, London: Continuum Discourse, 2012,
Print
Valdivia, Angharad N. A Companion to Media Studies. Blackwell Publishing, 2005, Online,
Accessed Nov 28th 2013
Hall, Allan, Nichols, William, Moynahan, Patrick and Taylor, Janis, Media Relations in Sports, 2nd
Edition, Morgantown, West Virginia, US: West Virginia University, 2007, Print
Articles:
Hambriek, Marion E., Simmons, Jason M. Greenhalgh, Greg P., and Greenwell, T. Christopher
University of Louisville, USA,
“Understanding Professional Athletes' Use of Twitter: A Content Analysis of Athlete Tweets”,
International Journal of Sport Communication, 2010, 3, 454-471
©2010 Human Kinetics, Inc. Available at:
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%20twitter.pdf
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22, no. 4
Web Publications:
Twitter.com:
https://about.twitter.com/ Accessed November 17, 2013
CBS Sports:
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“Sale of Kings is final; Maloofs are gone, Ranadive officially takes over”, CBS Sports, May 31, 2013,
Matt Moore, Accessed December 16, 2013
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/22333260/maloofs-officially-transferownership-of-kings-to-ranadives-sacramento-group,
CNN Money:
“Inside the NFL’s $9.3 billion money machine, Broadcast”, CNN Money, March 9, 2011, Doris Burke,
Accessed December 16, 2013
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/news/1103/gallery.nfl_total_value.fortune/2.html
NBC Sports
1: “J.R. Smith decides to taunt Kobe”, NBC Sports, February 24, 2010, Rob Mahoney, Accessed
December 19, 2013
http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/02/24/jr-smith-not-exactly-lacking-in-confidence/
2: “Brandon Jennings starts Twitter beef with J.R. Smith”, NBC Sports, Nov 14, 2013, Dan Feldman,
Accessed December 19, 2013
http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/11/14/brandon-jennings-starts-twitter-beef-with-j-rsmith/
3: “J.R. Smith fined $25.000 for “hostile and inappropriate language” in tweet”, NBC Sports,
November 15, 2013, Kurt Helin, Accessed December 19, 2013
http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/11/15/j-r-smith-fined-25000-by-league-for-hostileand-inappropriate-language-in-tweet/
4: Matt Barnes fined for $25.000 by league for ejection, twitter rant, NBC Sports, November 14,
2013, Kurt Helin, Accessed December 19, 2013
http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/11/14/matt-barnes-fined-25000-by-league-forejection-twitter-rant/
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5: “Carmelo Anthony put a bounty on slapping a celebrity groupie”, NBC Sports, Aug 29, 2010, Matt
Moore, Accessed December 20, 2013
http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/08/29/carmelo-anthony-put-a-bounty-out-onslapping-a-celebrity-groupie/
6: The Extra Pass: Why D’Antoni is the right man for the job; plus Sunday’s recaps, NBC
Sports, January 6, 2014, D.J. Foster and Kurt Helin, Accesssed Jan 6, 2014
http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/01/06/the-extra-pass-why-dantoni-is-the-rightman-for-the-job-plus-sundays-recaps/
Yahoo Sports:
1: “Carmelo embroiled in deeply stupid Twitter controversy”, Yahoo Sports, August 31, 2010, Trey
kerby, Accessed December 20, 2013
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Carmelo-Anthony-embroiled-in-deeplystupid-Twitt?urn=nba,266377
Bleacherreport
1: “The NBA’s Most Controversial Tweets and Blog Posts of the Last Two Seasons, Bleacher Report,
May 5, 2010, Pace Miller, Accessed December 19, 2013
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/388268-the-most-controversial-tweetsblog-posts-of-the-lasttwo-seasons/page/2
NBA.com:
1: “J.R. Smith, Regular Season Career”, NBA, n.d., n.p., Accessed December 19, 2013
http://stats.nba.com/playerCareer.html?PlayerID=2747&PerMode=PerGame
2: ”NBA social video”, NBA, n.d., n.p., Accessed December 27, 2013
http://www.nba.com/socialvideo/index.html?s=124264
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English
3: NBA Social Highlights, NBA, n.d., n.p, Accessed December 27, 2013
http://www.nba.com/social-spotlight/
Basketballreference.com:
”2009-10 Denver Nuggets”, n.d., n.p., accessed December 19, 2013
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/DEN/2010.html
Fullcourtpumps.com
1: “JR Smith Fined $25k for Tweeting Picture of Tahiry’s Butt[Photo]”, Full Court Pumps, March 11,
2012, Mandii B, Accessed December 19, 2013
http://fullcourtpumps.com/2012/03/jr-smith-fined-25k-for-tweeting-picture-of-tahirys-butt-photo/
2:“J.R. Smith Wants You To Believe He Wasn’t Clubbing Night Before Game”, Full Court Pumps, May
6, 2013, Mandii B, Accessed December 19, 2013
http://fullcourtpumps.com/2013/05/jr-smith-wants-you-to-believe-he-wasnt-clubbing-nightbefore-game-tweet/
New York Times:
1: “Dennis Rodman fines Rodman $50,000 for Remarks on Mormons”, New York Times, June 13,
1997, Mike Wise, Accessed December 20, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/13/sports/nba-fines-rodman-50000-for-remarks-onmormons.html
Sports Illustrated:
1: “Talking Heads: Allen Iverson, Larry Brown”, Sports Illustrated, n.d., n.p., Accessed December 20,
2013
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/news/2002/05/08/talking_heads/
2: “LeBron James, Kobe Bryant rank among 2013’s most retweeted sports tweets”, Sports
Illustrated, December 13, 2013, Ben Golliver, Accessed December 27, 2013
31/41
Mads Kofod Rasmussen
Aalborg University
English
http://nba.si.com/2013/12/13/lebron-james-kobe-bryant-rank-among-2013s-most-retweetedsports-tweets/
Ad Age Magazine Online:
“NBA Could More Than Double Its Annual Rights Fees In New TV Deals”, Ad Age media news, June
05, 2013, Michael McCarthy, Accessed December 28, 2013 http://adage.com/article/media/nbadouble-rights-fees-tv-deals/241839/
ESPN:
1: “David Stern: NBA revenue up to $5B”, ESPN, November 13, 2012, Associated Press, Accessed
December 16, 2013
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8629046/david-stern-estimates-nba-revenue-20-percent-5billion
2: “Sale of Kings Officially Done”, ESPN, June 1, 2013, ESPN.com news services, Accessed December
16, 2013
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9329206/sacramento-kings-sale-vivek-ranadive-groupcomplete Accessed December 16 2013
National Sports Journalism Center
“How writing for the Web is different, and how it isn’t”, National Sports Journalism Center,
February 1, 2010 Jason Fry, Accessed December 29, 2013
http://sportsjournalism.org/sports-media-news/how-writing-for-the-web-is-different-and-how-itisn%E2%80%99t/
UPI.com:
“[VIDEO] DeAndre Jordan's alley-oop dunk over Brandon Knight: The best of the year?”, UPI, March
11, 2013, Kate Stanton, Accessed December 30, 2013
32/41
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Aalborg University
English
http://www.upi.com/blog/2013/03/11/VIDEO-DeAndre-Jordans-alley-oop-dunk-over-BrandonKnight-The-best-of-the-year/1071363017277/
12. Appendixes
12.1 Appendix 1
J.R. Smith last 50 Tweets, December 19th, 2013 14:46
1.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith 8h
#Whoop instagram.com/p/iF4FlUNfC0/
http://
Content
2.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith 8h
We lose an I take 1 shit y'all mad we win I take 23 shots y'all mad! Lol
#OHWELL
Information Sharing
3.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith 8h
But trust me give me that chance again I'll shoot it again!
Information Sharing
4.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith 8h
Lol 17 threes tho! Had to say damn my self!
Information Sharing
5.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith 8h
#Knickstape
Information Sharing
6.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith 21h
#wcw part 2 instagram.com/p/iEasoPNfAn/
http://
33/41
Mads Kofod Rasmussen
Aalborg University
English
Diversion
7.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith21h
#WCW Part1 instagram.com/p/iEapgftfAl/
http://
Diversion
8.
More Than Stats @MoreThanStats21
17 Dec
CHECK OUT THE STYLE FRM @TheRealJRSmith @TheRealMattKemp
@Russwest44 & More wp.me/p1M4ET-34d #Morethanstats
http://
Retweeted by JR Smith
Diversion
9.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith 17 Dec
#greatmorningworld "Hard Times Don't Last" instagram.com/p/iBvdgYNfDx/
http://
Content
10.
DUNN @THESIGNTOLOGIST17 Dec
Thanks for the support @therealjrsmith #art thesigntologist.com #streetart
#thesigntologist instagram.com/p/iAjetFzgF9/
http://www.
http://
Retweeted by JR Smith
Diversion
11.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith17 Dec
Yes sir! RT @TheOnlyCSmith0: @TheRealJRSmith you already know‼️ you
already know what time it is.. Stay focused and humble we good.. Blessed
Interaction
12.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith17 Dec
Thanks bro RT @TheOnlyCSmith0: @TheRealJRSmith getting his flow back
it's on...
Interaction
13.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith
16 Dec
Whoop RT @djaaanyc: @TheRealJRSmith has never responded once to me
is today the day?
34/41
Mads Kofod Rasmussen
Aalborg University
English
Interaction
14.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith
16 Dec
First Official NBA Ball! RT @bubbawatson: #Bubbaclaus Day 4- Tell me your
favorite Christmas gift you got as a kid. Do u still have it?
Interaction
15.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith16 Dec
#greatmorningworld #whatsonyourfeet instagram.com/p/h-9uKyNfDc/
http://
Diversion
16.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith16 Dec
#WhatsYaSwag? instagram.com/p/h9v9iRNfPR/
http://
Diversion
17.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith15 Dec
Lol 1-8 an still get the W but y'all still mad lol I don't get y'all! Ok bad shooting
game I get it but if we when who cares? #GetOffMyBack
Information Sharing
18.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith15 Dec
#Knickstape Head to the Sky Feet on the Ground!
Information Sharing
19.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith13 Dec
... instagram.com/p/h4QIRctfGB/
http://
Diversion
20.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith13 Dec
#greatmorningworld #goodluck to my young boyz today! #GrayBees
instagram.com/p/h3Y_ICtfNz/
http://
Fanship
21.
Stevie B @YourGirlsHouse_12 Dec
35/41
Mads Kofod Rasmussen
Aalborg University
English
Shout to the Bro J.R Swishh !!! @TheRealJRSmith You loopy as hell
pic.twitter.com/KJHHGD8drh
Retweeted by JR Smith
Interaction
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith12 Dec
#GreatWin #ScaryWin But #GreatWin instagram.com/p/hzupq1NfBI/
22.
http://
Diversion, Information Sharing
23.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith11 Dec
#SOA damn yo
Information Sharing
24.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith10 Dec
I heard @skydigg4 will be at the garden for the game tomorrow night. Find out why
at midnight over at postup1211.com #postup1211
http://
Promotional
25.
JR Smith @TheRealJRSmith8 Dec
Lol what's up! RT @TinaLebron11: still remember this camp ��
@TheRealJRSmith is awesome! love him and his family
pic.twitter.com/81KwrmdDpH
Diversion, Interaction
Total:
Content: 2, 8 %
Diversion: 9, 36 %
Fanship: 1, 4 %
Information Sharing: 8, 32 %
Interaction: 6, 24 %
36/41
Mads Kofod Rasmussen
Aalborg University
English
Promotional: 1, 4 %
12.2 Appendix 2:
Sports Coverage on Twitter by @poundingtherock
Shown in reverse chronological order. No. 1 is the newest and 30 is the oldest.
Every date
1.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock
27 Dec (5:09 AM - 27 Dec 13)
That’s it everybody! Spurs win 116-107!
2.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock
27 Dec
#V3RD3 FOR EVERYBODY
3.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock
27 Dec
If Dejuan Blair had been on the floor, he could’ve gotten the rebound off the Monta miss
4.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock
27 Dec
OH GOD THAT’S SPURS MUSIC RT @Matthew_Tynan: KE$HA! I HEAR IT!
5.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock
27 Dec
/TURNS CAPS LOCK off
6.
T-Boat @WhatAboutTob
27 Dec
@poundingtherock Blair on the bench during crunch time is probably the funniest subplot of this
game, no?
Retweeted by Pounding the Rock
37/41
Mads Kofod Rasmussen
Aalborg University
English
7.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock 27 Dec
MONTA ELLIS HAVE ALL THE HARD CLOSEOUTS
8.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock 27 Dec
/turns caps lock ON
9.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock 27 Dec
Parker drives :((((
10.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock 27 Dec
HOLY COW
11.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock 27 Dec
DUNCAN OUTLETS
o
Reply
12.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock 27 Dec
ATOMIC #V3RD3
13.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock 27 Dec
Please tell me we’re coming down the pike and it’s Dirk vs. Tim
14.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock 27 Dec
Manu to Timmy! Spurs going to the GOATPUFF for the bailouts
38/41
Mads Kofod Rasmussen
Aalborg University
English
15.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock27 Dec
Boris Diaw just dribbled over Monta Ellis’ head
16.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock 27 Dec
Oh dear.
17.
Project Spurs @projectspurs
27 Dec
Tony is being aggressive to a fault -- he's barreling to the rim without much purpose.
Retweeted by Pounding the Rock
18.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock 27 Dec
Tony drives :(
19.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock 27 Dec
Monta Ellis has begun to have most of it
20.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock 27 Dec
@ClintWren Pull Up 3’s In Transition. a subset of PUJIT’s, Pull Up Jumpers In Transition.
View conversation
21.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock 27 Dec
Dirk PU3ITs make me so sad.
22.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock 27 Dec
39/41
Mads Kofod Rasmussen
Aalborg University
English
Thing of beauty RT @Matthew_Tynan: Kawhi's gotten that Eurostep down, man. That was pretty.
Had Monta all tied up.
23.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock27 Dec
#KAWHILIGHTS
24.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock27 Dec
ooooo that was a close one.
25.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock27 Dec
GIF: Lucky bounce, or intentional bottom-of-the-backboard pass? You decide
http://sbn.to/1kKA1qE
26.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock27 Dec
Kawhi with a nice bounce pass in traffic to Tiago who draws the foul. Kawhi and Danny are giving
excellent games tonight.
27.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock27 Dec
WINNER RT @mdeleon: Boy am I glad the ppl that wanted to trade Danny Green a week ago
aren’t RC Buford
28.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock27 Dec
I don’t think Dirk has missed a fadeaway jumper by more than an inch since 2007
29.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock27 Dec
DANNY GREEN OUTLET REMARKABLY ACCURATE. HOLY MOLY
40/41
Mads Kofod Rasmussen
Aalborg University
English
30.
Pounding the Rock @poundingtherock 27 Dec (4:35 AM)
Patty resists the urge to PU3IT, passes to Ginobili who finds Diaw for the layup. Spurs by 11!
12.3 Appendix 3
Misc Tweets:
1.
Adrian Wojnarowski @WojYahooNBA 3m (1:56 PM Dec 28, 13)
Column: As Brooklyn coach, Jason Kidd is losing his players and losing traction. He
needs to win -- and soon. yhoo.it/1fNR73d
http://
2.
Adrian Wojnarowski @WojYahooNBA
15h
(11:55 PM Dec 28, 13)
Column: Jason Kidd is losing traction and his locker room as Nets coach. He needs
things to turn -- and fast. bit.ly/1fNR73d
http://
41/41