The Evolution of Bill Simmons

From @SportsGuy33 to @BillSimmons

Exactly five years ago, Bill Simmons announced he was joining Twitter. He did so on his Blogspot site (seriously). He had already cemented his position as the most popular writer on ESPN.com, if not the most popular sports writer in the country, and he was taking his “every fan” mentality to Twitter. During his first nine months on the platform, he was a veritable addict:

Simmons used Twitter to share witty insights, provide real-time commentary, and engage with fans. It even became a goal amongst my friends to get retweeted by the Sports Guy — one of my friends managed to during the NBA lockout:

By the time ESPN and Simmons launched Grantland in June 2011, he had amassed 1.4 million followers (he’s now at 2.6 million). The day after his new site launched, I wrote a post on Simmons as an entrepreneur, focusing on his ability to extend his influence via his popular podcast, the B.S. Report, and the 30 For 30 documentary series…