CNBC examined the impact of Twitter and how it has helped change the way we receive news in a special called "# Twitter Revolution," and the net's Carl Quintanilla noted Twitter has "turned TV into a new experience." The NBA Finals "generated more than 26 million tweets, all of them unvarnished and some unkind." The NBA "jumped on Twitter" in '09 and "today, two-thirds of the players are on the platform giving it the biggest presence of any sports league on social media." Heat F Chris Bosh said he likes to "put little tidbits out there about what I do and how I think" because people "appreciate that." NBA Senior VP/Marketing Melissa Rosenthal Brenner said, "If you aggregate the league, the teams, the players and retired players, you have over 130 million people following the NBA in one form or another globally and that's an audience that four years ago was zero." Quintanilla noted if Twitter has "helped boost the league's popularity, it's also created problems," like when players send out offensive or controversial tweets. Brenner: "Whatever you wouldn't say in a press conference you shouldn't be saying in social media." Spurs G Manu Ginobili said he "thinks a lot" before sending out a tweet because if "you think there's some chance that it could be misunderstood, I just delete it." Quintanilla said Twitter has become a "weapon of mass communication, controlled by everyone and no one" ("# Twitter Revolution," CNBC, 8/7).
HAD ENOUGH OF IT: USA TODAY's Ted Berg notes former MLBer Chipper Jones is "leaving Twitter after more than a year spent actively using the social media site." Jones on his Twitter feed wrote, "No more twitter for me. Said I'd do it for one year and the time is up. Too much hate and too many trolls. Much love to Braves country!" Despite Jones' "eagerness to dole out criticism and earlier exhortations to followers to 'toughen up,' he spent his final weeks on Twitter appearing largely preoccupied with a growing, nebulous set of personal rules he established for users who wanted to interact with him online." Though Jones showed "a sense of humor throughout ... his exit came two days after he boasted of blocking 500 followers for breaking his rules" (USA TODAY, 8/8).
