Kobe Bryant Joins Twitter: Lakers Star Gains A Quarter Of A Million Followers In A Few Hours

On Friday afternoon, Kobe Bryant introduced himself to the Twitter world with his first ever post.

"The antisocial has become social #mambatweets,” tweeted the Los Angeles Lakers guard at 12:13 p.m. ET from the handle @kobebryant. The account is verified so it is definitely the future Hall of Famer and not a parody account.

News of Bryant joining the social media site spread quickly. In just over four hours, the NBA star accumulated 250,000 followers.

Bryant still has a long way to go to become the athlete with the largest Twitter following. International soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo leads all athletes with over 15 million followers. LeBron James leads all American sports stars with over 6.8 million followers.

This isn’t the first time Bryant has been on Twitter. He activated an account in Sept. 2011, but the account was soon shut down.

Bryant had his first experience using Twitter on Christmas when he took over the @nikebasketball account for three days.

"I really just didn't know how to use it, but I decided 'Well, why not give it a shot and just talk to the fans directly?'” said Bryant. “I found it to be enjoyable. I had a good time."

The positive experience may be what convinced Bryant to start tweeting from his own account.

"I heard a lot of great comments. You're able to get a lot of great feedback about the game but also about the product as well — what they thought, what they like, what they didn't like. It's the best way to gauge reaction."