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Twitter's a great promo tool for players-if they think before they type
WHILE TWITTER MIGHT be the second coming when it comes to social marketing for athletes, illconsidered tweets can be a disaster for the leagues and teams they play for. Just ask Kansas City Chiefs football star Larry Johnson, who used homophobic slurs on his personal Twitter account, tweeting himself into a two-week suspension from the team.
Twitter is "how athletes and celebrities win fans for life," said Dan Schwabel, personal branding expert and author of the book "Me 2.0." "Athletes can talk directly to fans, companies can talk directly to consumers, and the middleman is cut out. There's a huge opportunity to grow their fan base. They don't have to go through anybody to get their message out."
But that can also be the problem. San Diego Chargers football player Antonio Cromartie was fined $2,500 back in the preseason for tweeting about the awful food served at training camp. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was fined $25,000 by the National Basketball Association for using his Twitter account to criticize the referees after a game last year. Texas Tech University football player Brandon Carter tweeted earlier this season that "this is not how I...