Much like MySpace and Facebook in the past, Twitter is the latest social networking craze to sweep the nation, and millions of users have joined since its inception in 2006.
Virginia Tech men’s basketball head coach Seth Greenberg is no exception.
Twitter is a free social networking service that enables its users to send and receive messages known as tweets. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or allow open access.
Greenberg has amassed 570 tweets since joining the latest Internet trend back in mid-May and is currently followed by nearly 2,500 other users.
His players are not among them.
“I stay away from coach’s Twitter,” junior guard Malcolm Delaney said. “I don’t really read anything he puts on there, but it’s cool.”
Delaney also boasts a Twitter page and has 1,068 followers of his own.
“It just gives you a way to interact with the fans and just to show them how you really are in everyday life,” Delaney said. “That’s why I like it better than Facebook — because they know what you’re doing a lot more than on Facebook.”
Greenberg agreed that Twitter is another way of communicating with fans of the program.
He has made it an objective not to distance himself from the public or the media since arriving at Tech, becoming a recurring guest on several national sports talk shows such as ESPN’s “First Take” and “Rome is Burning.”
He also writes letters to the student body through the Collegiate Times on occasion and maintains a Web site, GreenbergBall.com. During the course of last season, Greenberg also kept a blog on HokieSports.com. Twitter, however, is something new for Greenberg as his messages can be much shorter and still have a good chance of being viewed by every active follower.
“It’s a great way for me to connect,” he explained. “I hope the students follow because during the course of the season, I will be continuing sending messages to them through Twitter if I don’t get the CT to cooperate with me,” Greenberg said jokingly.
Unlike his actual coaching duties, this newfound virtual social life is not a critical concern to Greenberg.
The subject of content within his messages ranges anywhere from the New York Yankees, of which he is an avid fan, to Tech football. Many of his more recent tweets have been about the upcoming season and where he believes his team currently stands in its progression through the preseason.
He will also occasionally give advice on what he believes are the most important aspects for a team.
“I have fun with it,” Greenberg said. “That’s my way of not taking myself too seriously — having fun and getting the word out, trying to connect with the people that support our program.”
Greenberg is not the only men’s basketball coach to join the social networking service. He is, however, one of the most-followed.
Clemson head coach Oliver Purnell has roughly 1,640 followers while George Mason head coach Jim Larranaga has 1,825 by comparison. The number of followers appears to be somewhat reflective of the popularity of the coach’s program.
Mike Gillian, head coach of the small, widely unknown Division I Independent Longwood Lancers boasts just 90 followers.
Although Greenberg’s fan base is massive in comparison, the coach only follows two accounts — those of his daughters Paige and Ella.
“I don’t follow anyone else,” Greenberg said. “People ask me: ‘Well, how come you don’t follow me?’ And I say, ‘I don’t know why you would follow me.’”
