Sports personalities are tweeting now . They are giving fans a reason to tune in to see their comments , '' says Adam Ostrow , managing editor of Mashable , a blog devoted to online social media . Ostrow believes social networking sites like Twitter allow athletes to connect directly with fans without the filter of the traditional media . And while many athletes and teams have blogs and Facebook profiles , Twitter allows for a more personal connection between fan and sports , he says . NBA All-Star Shaquille O'Neal -LRB- @THE_REAL_SHAQ -RRB- is both a prolific scorer and a prolific twitterer . His more than 700,000 followers get his tweets about everything from his diet to his recent trip to Graceland . Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong -LRB- @lancearmstrong -RRB- has more than 650,000 Twitter followers for such updates as `` Eating pizza at home w / the family . Good test today , kids go home tomorrow -LRB- sad -RRB- , and a hellacious week of training coming up . '' Hockey players also are getting into the act . Washington Capitals ace Alex Ovechkin -LRB- @ovi8 -RRB- was on Twitter during the NHL All-Star
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- It 's Sunday night during TNT 's coverage of the NBA playoffs , and announcer Kenny Smith , aka `` The Jet , '' is doing push-ups . TNT 's Kenny Smith tries to connect personally with NBA fans through his Twitter feed . Not on camera , but on Twitter . `` Hawks look hot ! CWebb , my boy Fabian and I doing 30 - pushups P90X style every commercial . . getting summeer -LSB- sic -RSB- ready , '' writes Smith to his followers on Twitter , the microblogging site where you can `` tweet '' brief messages of up to 140 characters . Five hours later , Smith -LRB- @TheJetOnTNT -RRB- tweets a follow-up : `` Man , i think im gon na be sore . '' By Monday morning , though , he seems raring to go again : `` Im not sore today ! the workout didnt kill me ... Im back !! '' Welcome to today 's intersection of sports and social networking , where college athletes , professional players and even broadcasters use tools like Facebook and Twitter to share their thoughts and experiences with fans . ``