"I don't like to tweet what I ate for lunch. I want to post something that might resonate with people or stir their thoughts," says Affeldt, who kicked off the Giants' first-ever Tweetup before the ballgame.
Affeldt says he uses his tweets to raise awareness of world issues, such as hunger, poverty and human-trafficking. Fodder for his posts are inspired from whatever book or web sites he's reading, or humanitarian organizations that he supports.
"Right now, I'm on this kick about the concept of 'loving thy neighbor'. I try my best to understand what that means. Someone once told me that we do a real good job of building fences now when we used to have people over and drink lemonade on the front porch with them. I try to create awareness about that," says Affeldt, who is both a philosophical and religious man.
Facebook and Twitter are perfect forums for exploring such deep thoughts - or just recounting the day's events. But despite the growing use of these social media tools among the general population, besides Affeldt, nary a tweet or status update can be found in the Giants clubhouse. This is surprising considering the amount of players have to kill while on the road, or in the clubhouse. In between card games, crosswords and dominoes, there's got to be time for Facebook or Twitter. But time doesn't seem to be the issue - it's a matter of what to post.
As Tim Lincecum surmised, "I don't think players should have (Facebook or Twitter accounts). It's just trouble waiting to happen."
Brian Wilson found that trouble - or it found him - when he tweeted about his night on the town in Scottsdale, Ariz. during a road trip last year. He blew a 4-1 lead the next day. Wilson claims that his tweets were made up. No one, but him, knows for sure. Nonetheless, his @brianwilson38 account disappeared shortly thereafter.
Barry Zito was an avid tweeter, offering thoughts about the hottest restaurants and random musings. But he shut down his account last summer saying that it wasn't fun anymore. His @barryzito handle is now owned by some dude in Korea.
Todd Wellemeyer is taking the safe route. He's a Facebook lurker. "I like to see what other people are posting, but I never post anything," Wellemeyer says. He says that he doesn't want his personal posts to wind up on someone's blog.
Instead, he uses Facebook, which he checks on his iPhone, to keep up with relatives and long-lost classmates. "Everyone I've ever gone to school with has 'friended' me," he says.
It's probably safer that way, except for all those ticket requests Wellemeyer must get from all those friends from grade school.
