{"id":31525,"date":"2014-11-14T17:18:56","date_gmt":"2014-11-14T09:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=31525"},"modified":"2014-11-14T16:15:40","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T08:15:40","slug":"lebron-on-connecting-with-fans-you-cannot-shortcut-you-cannot-cheat-they-will-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/11\/14\/lebron-on-connecting-with-fans-you-cannot-shortcut-you-cannot-cheat-they-will-know\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron on connecting with fans: \u2018You cannot shortcut, you cannot cheat … they will know\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"LeBron<\/a>
LeBron James played for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2008. Photo by Keith Allison \/ Flickr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BOSTON\u2014Even with almost 17 million followers on Twitter and nearly 22 million on Facebook, LeBron James didn\u2019t hesitate when asked his preferred method of connecting with fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe basketball court,\u201d the Cleveland Cavaliers star said on Thursday night during an \u201cidea exchange\u201d at Fenway Park.<\/p>\n

Speaking to business leaders at the home of the Boston Red Sox, James said his goal is to remain authentic, whether it\u2019s in his business relationships or his interactions with fans. The two-time NBA champion said he won\u2019t endorse a product unless he likes it, and he won\u2019t speak out on an issue unless he means it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people, the consumer, they know what\u2019s real and what\u2019s fake,\u201d said James, whose Cavaliers were in town for Friday night\u2019s game against the Boston Celtics. \u201cYou cannot shortcut, you cannot cheat, because they will know.\u201d<\/p>\n

James has one of the top 50 Twitter followings, the biggest among U.S. athletes and second in the world only to soccer star Cristiano Renaldo. He cultivates it with the usual updates about what\u2019s going on in his life\u2014his newborn daughter couldn\u2019t sleep the previous night\u2014and also with thoughts on larger issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy fans are part of the reason I am where I am today,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d love them to ride along this ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

James was one of the league\u2019s most vocal critics of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who was recorded making racist statements. James said there was no place in the NBA for Sterling, who was eventually forced to sell the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI make decisions to speak about things when I have knowledge about it,\u201d said James, who also spoke out after the 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin. \u201cThings that I feel passionate about, things that I feel my power and my voice can bring something to, I will speak out about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans respond to James, according to SapientNitro Chief Marketing Officer Bill Kanarick, who moderated the panel with James and his business partner Maverick Carter. Each tweet he sends leads to 2,800 retweets or responses, Kanarick said; Justin Bieber, who has 56.7 million Twitter followers, has an average of 1,700 interactions per tweet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a selfish or commercial interest,\u201d Kanarick said. \u201cIt\u2019s a personal decision to connect with fans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOSTON\u2014Even with almost 17 million followers on Twitter and nearly 22 million on Facebook, LeBron James didn\u2019t hesitate when asked …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":18109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","mauthors-jimmy-golen","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}