As of Friday afternoon, the account had around 14,000 followers, including big name athletes like Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong and Steve Nash. Simply Measured has tracked some of the biggest followers in the chart below. In just over 24 hours, Nike has more followers than its chief rival, Adidas.
Nike's first tweet was an Instagram featuring company founder Bill Bowerman (see image above) and his quote: "If you have a body, you are an athlete."
Nike spokesperson Heidi Burgett told Mashable that Nike decided to launch its Twitter feed now because it's close to New Year's.
"The timing around @Nike has a bit to do with starting off the year the right way -- both for Nike and the athletes we aspire to inspire," she says.
Nike already has several Twitter feeds for various sports including football (both the American version and soccer), baseball and tennis, to name a few.
"We've learned a lot from those accounts and the two-way dialogue has been very beneficial in helping us deepen our relationships with athletes of all levels around the world," Burgett added.
What do you think? Is Nike late to the game or the brand hitting Twitter just at the right time. Sound off in the comments.