Following the Big Aristotle

November 25, 2008 by Ryan 


I’m still waiting for a follow from the Big Shaqtus

The Diesel…
The Big Aristotle…
The Big Daddy…
The Big Shaqtus…
The Big Baryshnikov…
Shaquille O’Neal!

I remember when he first came into the league he made a huge impact, most memorably because he would always break the back boards. I remember even more fondly when he came to the Lakers and we went on a tear and won three straight championships! Of course there was the Kobe feuds, which I think the media way over-hyped and unfortunately led to the breakup of one of the best dynasties in recent memory. He went to Miami and delivered on his promise to bring a championship. Then he came to Phoenix, stepping into a system that many doubted he could fit in, but got slim and fit and sure enough ran right along Steve Nash. This year he is one of Hollingers top surprises of the season.

He impacted the league in a big way and he’s just stepped into a new league where he could have a huge impact…Twitter. Twitter? I would imagine many of you have never heard of it. Maybe you’ve heard me go off about it but didn’t really get it. My quick explanation is it’s somewhere in between instant messaging, texting & blogging. I could/should/will write a whole post about Twitter and how cool it is, but this post is about @the_real_shaq! Unlike some of the accounts on Twitter (Britney Spears aka @therealbritney & Barack Obama aka @barackobama) who have staffs doing posts, @the_real_shaq IS the real Shaq! Here’s some fun things I’ve seen since I’ve been following his updates:

  • Shaq called one of his early followers who doubted it was really him and then invited him to a game! Here’s a story Mashable did about it.
  • Shaq asking where he should go to Subway or Schlotsskys. He chose Subway, so I went too! Could be a huge marketing campaign to have what Shaq orders up at Subway. I guess he’d have to eat there everyday which I don’t know if I could do.
  • Shaq and @PhoenixSunsGirl took pics at their “Twitter Tutorial”. She introduced him to Twitter. Still trying to get them to get Steve Nash on.
  • Watching my friend Nate (@mollermarketing) campaigning to get Shaq to follow him…only to have him do it! He even gave him a few shout outs which will be huge for Nate!

I think Shaq coming to Twitter could have huge implications in bringing it into the mainstream. Check it out!

Don’t forget to follow me! @ryansmiller

Filed under: Basketball, Social Networking
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Comments

One Response to “Following the Big Aristotle”

  1. Nate Moller on November 25th, 2008 9:39 pm

    Hey Ryan,

    Thanks for the great post! It was one of those “Small Success leads to Big Success!” moments. Since that follow by Shaq I’ve had 63 new followers on Twitter in the last day. I’ve had the chance to talk on the phone with one of Shaq’s Sports Marketing Consultants, and I’ve even got to chat back and forth with Shaq a couple times.

    Two main things I’ve learned: 1) Persistence always pays off! 2) It’s all about connections: I’m pretty sure I’d still be begging Shaq to follow me right now if it wasn’t for @phoenixsunsgirl, who put in a very nice plug for me.

    Thanks again for the post!

    Nate Mollers last blog post..Tuesday Tutorial: How I Got Shaq to Follow Me on Twitter

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