The Panthers' tweeting craze

After visiting more than a dozen Panther training camps here in Spartanburg, where I'm writing this at the moment, most things feel close to the same every year. But the new social networking Web site "Twitter" and the Panthers who are doing it -- that's definitely new.

I'll explore this in more depth in a column for Friday's paper -- now posted here -- but basically more Panthers seem to be "Twitter-ing" now -- and more often -- than ever blogged.

I think this is because a blog requires more time. A Twitter is only 140 characters long -- just a text-message, basically, but sent out to hundreds of people instead of just one.

"I've got a blog, too," said Panthers' kickoff specialist Rhys Lloyd. "But this is just easier. A blog is paragraphs. In this, you only have 140 characters. I don't have the time to sit there and write essays... This is just like sending a text message."

Lloyd (RhysJLloyd on Twitter.com) is the early MVP in the clubhouse among the Panthers who Twitter (at least eight of them at last count).

Incidentally, I've joined up on Twitter, too -- you can follow me at Twitter.com/scott_fowler. But if you prefer this blog (or the newspaper), don't worry -- I'll still be writing just as much for both of them.