NBA players, teams and the entire league need to put an emphasis on SOCIAL MEDIA!

Without the ethical or legal concerns, social media is like an athlete on steroids; it is bigger and better than "traditional" media. Various studies are being conducted and the results go right along with the ideas of a tech-savvy, more fast-paced society. Social media is a dominant force in the world today and the NBA should be sure to take advantage of it.

Universal McCann is a global communications agency, and they just released results of a study about social media. Over 17,000 people between the ages of 16-54, in 29 different countries were surveyed.

Globally 73% of internet users are reading blogs with 48% including these consumer-generated content in their weekly media diet.

Some of the adoption rates are simply staggering:

- 83% watch video clips, up from 62% in the last study in June 2007
- 78% read blogs, up from 66%
- 57% of internet users are now members of a social network
- RSS consumption is growing rapidly up from 15% to 39%
- Podcasts are now mainstream digital content, listened to by 48%

Washington Wizard, Gilbert Arenas was the pioneer for NBA player blogs. His blog started two years ago and has won numerous awards. Arenas is articulate and doesn't ever censor himself. He blogs about topics other NBA players are afraid to even mention. His blog is great for the NBA; it gives fans a way of really seeing who NBA players are. In fact, one fan messaged Arenas on Myspace because he didn’t believe it was actually him. Eventually Arenas invited him to a Wizards practice to prove that it was, when they finally met they became friends.

Now tons of NBA players have blogs, a lot of them on the blogging site yardbarker. There you can expect to see such things as pictures and videos of Portland Trail Blazer Greg Oden rehabbing his knee or talking about his puppy Charles Barkley McLovin.

Social media in the NBA goes beyond blogging. This last season, various players posted videos of themselves on YouTube asking for votes to the all-star team or asking for fans to submit suggestions on dunks for the NBA Dunk Contest.

There is no reason for the NBA not to focus on social media. Going along with the results found by Universal McCann, it is clear that social media has grown tremendously and it offers many unique ways for the NBA and its teams to connect with fans beyond the court.