Many people, including myself, find it strange that Kevin Durant likes to engage with people on social media, specifically people who make negative comments.
If you mention or subtweet Kevin Durant he probably won’t respond to it… but there is certainly a chance that he will. Durant explained his reasoning in an interview that aired last night on TNT with Charles Barkley (aside: his feelings toward Barkley must’ve cooled since last season.)
Durant explained that he doesn’t take what people say about him on social media as seriously as he did in the past — like when his burner Twitter account was exposed. He said that people get excited when he interacts with them, and most importantly, social media is a part of the NBA and a part of life. It’s been around for a while and not going anywhere so there’s no sense in running from it.
Maybe Durant gets social media more than the rest of us do because he’s absolutely correct, there is no escaping it. If you are one of the few people who don’t have any social media accounts, your job, your friends, and your family do. Being engaged with your employer’s social media will help at the job, and you will likely appear on the social media accounts of people you know. If you don’t want to be put on there, you can’t make sure of it without having social media accounts.
As toxic of a place as social media can be, it offers many benefits. For someone like Durant, who has many interests outside of basketball, it’s the perfect place for free promotion. However, if his account was nothing but self-promotion, his tweets might as well all be marked sponsored. Instead, because he engages with others on social media he’s built not only a reputation for clapping back at people, but also a more genuine connection with his followers and other users. That makes it much more likely that they’ll look at something he’s promoting instead of scrolling past it.
Even for those without television shows promote, it can be used to raise your profile in your profession, build interest around a small business, or simply a way to keep up with the news of the day — provided you know how to distinguish news from a recommendation to use horse dewormer to “immunize” yourself from COVID-19.
Social media is no longer a brave new world; it’s the world. Like Durant said in the clip it has been an intrical part of many companies for more than a decade. There’s literally no way to run from it, so just embrace it. You don’t have to respond to negative users. That’s fun for some people. By actively trying to avoid social media you’re cheating yourself.
So while we teased Durant for engaging with @Thunder4ever69 it turns out he understands exactly what he’s doing and doesn’t care if it turns us into real live SMH emojis.