National Sports Journalism Center

By now, it shouldn’t be such hot news that a celebrity like Shaquille O’Neal would use Twitter to announce his widely expected departure from basketball.

After all, if Paula Abdul can drop the bombshell about leaving American Idol in Twitterland, just about any news is suitable for disclosure in a medium allowing the celebrity full control over a conversation limited to bursts of 140 characters or less.

Still, it has been entertaining to watch O’Neal provide his own perspective on the world’s reaction to his news, tweeted mid-day Wednesday in two simple posts: “im retiring Video: http://bit.ly/kvLtE3 #ShaqRetires” and “@SHAQ: Shaq ooout. #ShaqRetires http://bit.ly/iZM1Ri.”

The links lead to O’Neal’s account on Tout, a platform allowing quick video updates to Facebook and Twitter accounts via snartphones. It’s the ultimate set-up for the connected, young wealthy media consumer; a range of media outlets accessible by cell phone, far outside the reach of meddlesome handlers or grubby journalists.

“We did it,” he tells the camera lens, held by an unseen operator. “Nineteen years, baby; that’s why I’m telling you first. I’m about to retire. Love you.”

At some point, O’Neal will sit down with Michael Wilbon or Bryant Gumbel or Matt Lauer and spill a more conventional account of why he hung up his sneakers after 19 years at the forefront of sports and celebrity culture.

But a look at his Tout videos shows a man relaxed in the media melee he’s kicking up, teasing ESPN sports talker Jim Rome: “Heard your comment about how I should have retired a long time ago. When I announce my show, you’re going to have to retire, too.” Another message asked fans to suggest a new nickname; 15,000 messages later, O’Neal said the leading contender was “The Big 401K.” Really?

This is just another example of the new connectedness I’ve have written about before in this space, allowing media-savvy athletes to develop their own connections to fans outside of any team bureaucracy or journalism gate-keeping. Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis may say that fans don’t want his athletes on Twitter, but I’ve never seen a fan who wouldn’t enjoy a closer, unfiltered look at the athletes or celebrity they idolize.

And as someone who has worked the media machine to its limit for many years now, O’Neal is now providing a master class to his fellow athletes on how to use this medium. Take notes, Rashard Mendenhall and Eric Winston; Shaq has got a few more important lessons to impart:

Keep it short – O’Neal dropped his news simply, “I’m about to retire,” knowing that the talk show blowhards and columnists like myself would fill in the details and implications. No need to over-share or release details which might be embarrassing later on; just say what you must and move on.

Keep the fans in mind – Whether it was a thinly disguised spin or not, O’Neal’s address to fans directly kept the message respectful and intimate. Everybody who continues to love him, probably likes him a little more after seeing a message which feels tailored to them, at least a little.

Make it a conversation – Rather than deal with a bunch queries from fans and journalists he wasn’t going to answer, O’Neal gave his followers a new mission – helping him craft his new, post-retirement identity. It may be little more than a game, but asking fans to find him a new handle both brings them into his retirement process and peels off many who might otherwise pester him online for details about the decision.

Make it intimate – Interspersed among his retirement announcement, the Tout videos show O’Neal conferring with his tailor, deciding whether to chase away strangers boating in his backyard and singing (badly) along with a Prince tune. Weird as some of this stuff is, it also humanizes him for fans and makes folks feel like they’re sitting next to one of the world’s most famous basketball players hours after he drops the biggest news of his career.

In a way, O’Neal online announcement was the antithesis of LeBron James’ widely reviled ESPN special “The Decision” – a major hijacking of media, which mostly left viewers underwhelmed and irritated by his boundless arrogance.

Kicking back, with a tranquil waterway sitting outside his home’s back window, O’Neal delivered his blockbuster, without fanfare, directly to the people who would, presumably, care about it most. It may be the strongest argument yet for athletes using Twitter wisely, boosting their brand while trying to have fun with a momentous decision.

Less than a year ago, O’Neal told me he expected to have another two years left in the game, towering over his fellow celebrities at an ABC event in Los Angeles. But even then, larger media opportunities seemed to beckon, as he talked up his then-new unscripted show for the network, “Shaq Vs.”

“I would like to do something more like (comic) David Chappelle did – my own comedy skit show,” he said last August, laughing off questions about working as an analyst or sports broadcaster. “I’m going to be looking at doing movies, be looking at doing comedy specials, writing books. The sky’s always been the limit for me.”

Judging by how well he’s handling Twitter right now, I’m scared of what might happen when O’Neal turns his full attention to life in media beyond basketball.

Eric Deggans is TV and Media Critic for the St. Petersburg Times and a 1990 graduate of the Indiana University School of Journalism. His work has also appeared in the Washington Post, Village Voice, VIBE magazine, Chicago Tribune, Detroit Free Press, Chicago Sun-Times and many other publications. He also writes a blog on media, The Feed.