Tom Brady has accumulated 310,000 followers in the 24 hours since he launched his official Twitter feed and sent his first tweet yesterday at 12:19pm ET (THE DAILY). In Massachusetts, Nick O'Malley noted Brady used the new social media account to "dive head-first into April Fools’ Day antics," announcing that he would "be retiring -- and tweeting in his spare time." The tweet was an "obvious prank coming on April Fools’ Day." Meanwhile, the account already is verified and Twitter sent a press release announcing that Brady "did in fact create that account" (MASSLIVE.com, 4/1). In Boston, Hayden Bird noted Brady followed up on that first tweet an hour later, asking, "Was this a bad joke?" (BOSTON.com, 4/1).
WELCOME ABOARD? NEWSWEEK's Dan Cancian notes Brady's arrival on Twitter was "met by fellow athletes warning him against online trolls." Former Patriots teammate Donte Stallworth "warned Brady of the perils of being on the platform." Stallworth wrote, “Welcome to hell.” Brady responded, “I heard everyone’s really supportive around here?” Brady later "acknowledged any Twitter users who shared their names with him must have had to deal with some unwarranted verbal abuse at some stage in their lives" (NEWSWEEK.com, 4/2).
