Is it just me, or does Twitter create an unfair advantage for John Calipari's University of Kentucky recruiting platform?
Once upon a time, Calipari and Indiana University head basketball coach, Tom Crean, raced for Twitter followers. On Monday, April 27, 2009 - less than three short months ago - the scoreboard read:
Calipari: 9,323 followers; Crean: 2,175 followers
If you want to irritate social media purists and count followers as the all important performance metric, then by all means, Calipari was running a clinic on Crean. But, we're talking about two luminaries in college basketball whose names and programs are constantly in the spotlight. That race could have went either way.
Once upon a time, Calipari and Indiana University head basketball coach, Tom Crean, raced for Twitter followers. On Monday, April 27, 2009 - less than three short months ago - the scoreboard read:
Calipari: 9,323 followers; Crean: 2,175 followers
If you want to irritate social media purists and count followers as the all important performance metric, then by all means, Calipari was running a clinic on Crean. But, we're talking about two luminaries in college basketball whose names and programs are constantly in the spotlight. That race could have went either way.
Today, the Twitter scoreboard conveys an image of Calipari's starters executing a full court press against Crean's walk-ons in a home court lambasting with two minutes left in the game:
What the heck happened?
Over the last three months Calipari's following increased nearly fifty-fold, while Crean enjoyed "only" a modest quadrupling in his subscriber base.
Trust me, Calipari is no Twitter genius.
Of course the lucrative contract - and subsequent publicity - with one of college basketball's most successful programs helped Coach Cal enjoy some expansion. Even the negative press stemming from Derrick Rose's SAT cheating allegations translated into more followers for UK's newest basketball steward.
While both events did draw considerable online attention to Calipari, neither - taken separately or in combination - were directly responsible for the mass explosion of his Twitter base.
So who's to blame? Or thank (from Calipari's perspective)?
So who's to blame? Or thank (from Calipari's perspective)?
Twitter.
That's right. The harmless micro-blogging platform launched a "Suggested Users" feature some months ago in response to a "certain percentage of new users that were signing up and then not following anyone." According to Twitter, "When you don't follow any other accounts, the product is not as relevant as it could be. To improve the user experience, [we] started suggesting some accounts to follow. As a result, new users are much more engaged and active."
Enter John Calipari. The only NCAA coach that I found on the "Suggested Users" list.
That's all fine and dandy if you're an average Joe using the service. However, if my name is Billy Donovan or Bruce Pearl, or any other SEC coach for that matter, I'm definitely not enjoying this feature! In fact, I'm probably cursing the blue-bleeding "Twitter Scientist" that selected Calipari as a suggested user; or I'm barking up the NCAA's tree citing unfair advantages in the recruiting game.
There are plenty of talented high school basketball players toying with Twitter. When a 15, 16 or 17 year old sees Calipari's popularity, coupled with his program's lore and elite playing conditions, you bet they're going to be tuning in to his Tweets. Since Calipari's Twitter timeline is public, following him is not even necessary to see what he's writing. Potentially, and I use that term loosely given the amount of robots patrolling the service and easy cluttering of Twitter timelines, every 140 character (or less) message that Calipari writes can reach up to 460K people.
That type of reach would even leave 6'10" UK Forward, Daniel Orton, jealous. And let's face it, recruiting is all about communication.
All of this begs the question: why do I care?
Obviously, and thankfully, I'm not out on the recruiting trail going head-to-head with Calipari looking for impact players. I'm also not a rival Louisville fan looking to blow the whistle on a UK team that is going to be dominant this upcoming season.
Frankly, I'm just mad that I once reigned supreme on the WeFollow.com basketball rankings. Along came the suggested Calipari and the Raptors' Chris Bosh, (who Charlie Villanueva recently raced to 50K followers), and now I'm a mere bronze medalist.
Am I a conspiracy theorist? Or does Twitter's "Suggested User" feature create an unfair advantage for Coach Cal?
Am I a conspiracy theorist? Or does Twitter's "Suggested User" feature create an unfair advantage for Coach Cal? 
