Twitter's Role in NBA Free Agency

When the Los Angeles Lakers were crowned theVillanueva (one of the pioneers of Twitter in the
NBA champions of the 2008-2009 basketballNBA when he was caught Tweeting during the
season, it only means all the other 29 teams ofhalftime of an NBA game) reports that his time
the popular basketball league are primed to makemay be done in Milwaukee may be done because
roster changes in the offseason. Contracts expirehis contract was not extended. On the other
in June 30 and this means free agency is oncehand, Minnesota Timberwolves' Kevin Love
again active. This season is different however.reported that Kevin McHale was no longer their
Virtual communities are more involved thanks tocoach.
the social media network Twitter.Updates such as these serve as fuel to
Twitter is not as elaborate as commercial anddiscussions of people in the virtual communities of
free virtual worlds with 3D environments. Actually,Twitter. These developments unify this people
it is a very simple utility application. It connectsunder the same topic even if they are not
lots of Twitter users together under anphysically present to discuss with each other.
up-to-the-minute stream of updates from eachMoreover, NBA teams even involve the online fan
other. But it is still a community neverthelessbase in through Twitter. Houston Rockets general
because there are trends for primarymanager Daryl Morey wanted to rally the
conversations and the likes.Rockets fans to show their support for potential
So how does it work in previous years?free agent signee center Marcin Gortat of the
Managements, owners and managers usuallyOrlando Magic. Here is a sample tweet:
meet each other on closed doors to arrange"Meeting in a few w/ Gortat. Send a note to him
contract negotiations and even workings ofNOW at rocketsfanslovegortat. He will receive.
trades. Usually, no news announcements areShow him how much we want him in Red (color
made until the deals are final. The basketballof the Rockets uniform)!"
community back then consisted of people in theAnother respected mind in the NBA, Dallas
same geographical location speculating aboutMavericks owner Mark Cuban, tweeted his
possible trades and personnel twists.presence in New York at the strike of the July 1
Not anymore.clock in order to court the free agent
Twitter and the World Wide Web in generalHall-of-Famer point guard Jason Kidd to return to
enabled communities to be updated as it happens.his team with a new contract. Cuban tweeted
Basketball sports outlets are using Twitter tothat he is already in New York for an important
outwork their opponents for the latestfree agent meeting. Even with this transparency,
developments. In a trend in recent days, sportsCuban discussed that there will be no updates yet
stories are using the Twitter accounts of NBAuntil conversations are finish.
superstars for quotes. This provides an alternativeSo we see another important usage of Twitter
from the quotes in press conferences. Forto involve a virtual community under the same
example, when the Lakers won, news outletstopic. We've seen it with the death of Michael
used Shaquille O'Neal's tweet (a Twitter update) inJackson and here in our 3D animation studio
his account The_Real_ShaQ when heMediafreaks, we think this will be a forward trend
congratulated the team.with commercial and free virtual worlds from here
Other NBA players are using this service to giveon out. Interactivity is really the trend in the
hints about their possible destination and otherWorld Wide Web nowadays.
personnel moves. Milwaukee Bucks' Charlie