Savage: Magic's Twitter Following Eclipses 1 Million
By Dan Savage
January 20, 2010
ORLANDO – The Orlando Magic made history on Monday and surprisingly it had nothing to do with their play on the court.
Instead, the prestigious milestone they reached had to do with their performance on the Twittersphere.
The Magic hit an exclusive social networking mark, becoming the first Eastern Conference team – second in the NBA – to obtain 1 million Twitter followers.
That milestone is one that’s held in high regard among fellow “Twitterers.”
Despite having over 60 million users worldwide – a number that includes countless organizations, athletes, musicians, actors and other celebrities – there are less 250 users on Twitter that have reached the 1-million-follower plateau.
By NBA standards, the 1-million-follower club is just as unique. After the Lakers and Magic, the next highest Twitter following belongs to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have less than 35,000.
Conceived on January 26, 2009, Orlando’s Twitter feed has grown at an astronomical rate. Reaching the 1 million mark in less than a year’s time, the Magic have gained an average of one new follower every 30 seconds.
With the social networking pioneers they have on their team, it’s no surprise that the Magic’s Twitter following has grown so fast.
All-Star center Dwight Howard – or @DwightHoward as he’s known to his “Tweeps” – eclipsed the milestone last season and now has nearly 1.5 million followers of his own.
Teammate Rashard Lewis – aka @Rashard_Lewis – is also active on the Twittersphere, in addition to his presence on several other social networking platforms.
He even instantly extended his support to the Magic about reaching the mark by tweeting “Congrats Magic fam” before Orlando’s game against the Lakers that night.
In order to celebrate making history, the Magic picked one of their followers at random on Tuesday and rewarded her with two tickets to their Feb. 5 game against the Washington Wizards.
“I feel like the luckiest person in the world right now,” said Delisa Cunningham, winner of the two tickets. “It’s great; I have never won anything like this before in my life. I am very excited.”
Like many of the other subscribers, Cunningham was drawn to the Magic’s Twitter feed based on its in-depth game coverage, breaking news alerts and links to exclusive articles, video interviews and behind-the-scenes updates that fans can’t get anywhere else.
“I love how it keeps me updated,” she explained. “I work a lot, so it helps me keep track of the scores and updates me on articles about the players.”
With the extensive heights the Magic’s Twitter feed has reached in less than a year, there’s no telling what kind of benchmark they’ll break next.
You can follow the Orlando Magic on twitter at http://twitter.com/orlando_magic.
By Dan SavageJanuary 20, 2010
ORLANDO – The Orlando Magic made history on Monday and surprisingly it had nothing to do with their play on the court.
Instead, the prestigious milestone they reached had to do with their performance on the Twittersphere.
The Magic hit an exclusive social networking mark, becoming the first Eastern Conference team – second in the NBA – to obtain 1 million Twitter followers.
That milestone is one that’s held in high regard among fellow “Twitterers.”
Despite having over 60 million users worldwide – a number that includes countless organizations, athletes, musicians, actors and other celebrities – there are less 250 users on Twitter that have reached the 1-million-follower plateau.
By NBA standards, the 1-million-follower club is just as unique. After the Lakers and Magic, the next highest Twitter following belongs to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have less than 35,000.
Conceived on January 26, 2009, Orlando’s Twitter feed has grown at an astronomical rate. Reaching the 1 million mark in less than a year’s time, the Magic have gained an average of one new follower every 30 seconds.
With the social networking pioneers they have on their team, it’s no surprise that the Magic’s Twitter following has grown so fast.
All-Star center Dwight Howard – or @DwightHoward as he’s known to his “Tweeps” – eclipsed the milestone last season and now has nearly 1.5 million followers of his own.
Teammate Rashard Lewis – aka @Rashard_Lewis – is also active on the Twittersphere, in addition to his presence on several other social networking platforms.
He even instantly extended his support to the Magic about reaching the mark by tweeting “Congrats Magic fam” before Orlando’s game against the Lakers that night.
In order to celebrate making history, the Magic picked one of their followers at random on Tuesday and rewarded her with two tickets to their Feb. 5 game against the Washington Wizards.
“I feel like the luckiest person in the world right now,” said Delisa Cunningham, winner of the two tickets. “It’s great; I have never won anything like this before in my life. I am very excited.”
Like many of the other subscribers, Cunningham was drawn to the Magic’s Twitter feed based on its in-depth game coverage, breaking news alerts and links to exclusive articles, video interviews and behind-the-scenes updates that fans can’t get anywhere else.
“I love how it keeps me updated,” she explained. “I work a lot, so it helps me keep track of the scores and updates me on articles about the players.”
With the extensive heights the Magic’s Twitter feed has reached in less than a year, there’s no telling what kind of benchmark they’ll break next.
You can follow the Orlando Magic on twitter at http://twitter.com/orlando_magic.
