MANILA, Philippines - Basketball fans everywhere cheered and jeered as shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant joined Twitter on Friday, January 4.

More than 10 hours after his first tweet, Bryant has been Twitter verified and had 365,529 followers. He has not yet followed anybody.

The antisocial has become social #mambatweets

— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) January 4, 2013

Bryant's first tweet was retweeted 41,947 times and marked 'favorite' by 11,703 Tweeps.

Some fans welcomed him to Twitter and while another fan even said January 2013 already looked like a promising month as the "Black Mamba" joined the popular social network site.

The black mamba has arrived to twitter @kobebryant

— Jay Vladtv (@Jaykelllz) January 4, 2013

Some of the fans that replied to Kobe's first tweet came as far as Johannesburg in South Africa who wished him luck on his on Friady night.

@kobebryant good luck tonight against the clippers. Its going to be a huge game. One love from your @lakers fan in Johannesburg.

— Tshepo Ditshego (@TDdaPG7) January 4, 2013

- Rappler.com