Twitter craze catching celebrities out

Twitter has become the newest craze in today’s media obsessed society. Its short word count makes it easy to update frequently, but also easier to express yourself quicker to the entire social networking world.

Perhaps that’s ok for your average Joe, but a complete PR crisis for any well known sports personality, especially when in a lot of cases their short 140 words turns into a disgraceful rant that appears on the front of every newspaper the next morning.

Celebrities were one of the first to join the obsession and you will now find it very easy to find any sports star that’s life interests you on twitter.

Twitter has become a PR nightmare for any agent as sports stars are inclined to give information to the press, feelings, emotions and thoughts without even speaking to them directly because they tweet without thinking.

This is of course great for journalists, but yet again not so great for the celebrities after they realize what a mess they have made by ranting on their twitter accounts.

Journalists no longer have to beg for a quote after a game, they can simply go on twitter later that evening and see Wayne Rooney ranting about the recent match they lost or Steven Gerard talking down his competitors.

Celebrities are now giving an ‘inside’ experience of the game, before and after. Football players are ‘twitpicking’ photos, whether its capturing players running onto the football field, at training, or showing celebrities sitting courtside at the NBA, the goal is to give fans greater access and supplement what they're getting from the broadcast, other media and various apps.

Some teams are really embracing twitter and using it to there advantage. Wayne Rooney gained good media attention in his first 24 hours after joining the site as he expressed his admiration for team-mate Javier Hernandez, and also for his Chelsea rival, Fernando Torres.

Twitter also allows fans to converse with sports fans and for a lot of celebrities this is not always a good thing.

For the likes of Manchester United midfielder Darren Gibson, it has been the complete opposite, when he was forced to close down his account only just 2 hours after setting it up.

Gibson received so much abuse, presumably from Red Devils supporters, with tweeters questioning his importance to the team.

“You are an abysmal excuse for a footballer. You’re a one trick pony – a s*** one at that. What Fergie sees in you I don’t know,"

Whether it is a good or bad for celebrities, it will certainly always stay entertaining if they continue to tweet and give their fans an inside view into there ever exciting lives.