John Cena Talks Why He Follows People On Twitter, The Key To Developing A Social Media Presence
John Cena recently spoke with Sports Illustrated about how he uses Twitter. It was noted that instead of being a WWE regular these days, Cena has been a source of advice and inspiration for fans on the social media platform as of late.
"It's almost like my journal," Cena said of Twitter. "That's who I am as a human. I generate these from self-reflection and self-exploration. I never try to be too judgy or too pushy, I just try to put out thoughts to the world."
Cena is asked if the tweets he makes are directed at anyone in particular, and he revealed that he has a bunch of tweets backlogged.
"I have a bunch of posts backlogged and one that I'll post soon is, 'If you think these posts are about you, you're right,'" he revealed. "If they can resonate with you, then they're about you."
Cena is moving close to 12 million Twitter followers, and believes the key to developing a social media presence is authenticity.
"It's the same thing that garnered me a lot of success in the WWE, which was remaining authentic," Cena said. "When I changed into a hip hop persona, hip hop was part of my life, a part of my culture. So I just dove in in a way that was authentic to me. I was a Vanilla Ice exaggerated wannabe, essentially what I was in middle school, and I went back to that personality with all the bravado and swagger, and then eventually, over a decade and a half, became the character you see on Raw and SmackDown.
"Very much like in WWE when I openly switched and stopped rapping, choosing to be more aware of the young people in the crowd. That was the spawn of the character I became, which was, 'Work hard, never give up, show respect.' That's who I am."
Cena also spoke about the recent trend of following random fans on Twitter, and how they react to receiving a follow from the future WWE Hall of Famer. He talked about why he follows people.
"I know that social media is most times a difficult, argumentative, and negative place, Twitter especially, because of the ability to hide behind the text," said Cena. "So what can I do? Send out good stuff, be honest with everybody, and then follow people that relate to the good stuff.
"If I follow someone who is a 'negative' person on Twitter?their profile reads sarcastic, skeptic?and they like my tweets? They're not who they say they are, or they have a chance to change. If the experiment fails, so be it, but it's just me trying to use my presence to tip the balance."