That was in 1996. By 2013, everything had changed: Bryant was an NBA icon approaching the end of his career. The media world around him had changed radically, too, thanks to the invention of social media and proliferation of pocket-sized computers. For better and worse, gates had been stomped down and gatekeepers had been pushed aside. On Jan. 4, 2013, Bryant logged onto the Internet and hit send on his first message on*Twitter.*