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Long among the sports world's biggest Twitter holdouts, Kobe Bryant has finally joined the social network. But he hasn't opened an account, and won't be around for long.

Social savvy fans are being blessed with his presence thanks to Nike Basketball, which has turned over its account to Bryant since Tuesday.

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Nike Basketball, which sponsors Bryant and produces his official sneaker, announced the Kobe takeover in a Christmas Day tweet. The account's name is now "Kobe Bryant" although its handle remains @nikebasketball. Kobe has spent the past few days tweeting about a variety of subjects using a series of hashtags that play off the theme #counton-fill-in-the-blank.

He's tweeted about the Lakers progress as a team:

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14-14 not great but we are getting better. It's all about the journey #countonchallenges

Kobe Bryant (@nikebasketball) December 26, 2012

He's tweeted behind-the-scenes snippets of training and treatment:

Fully committed !The hardest part is getting over the first 2 min. 18 to go#countonkobe twitter.com/nikebasketball

Kobe Bryant (@nikebasketball) December 26, 2012

And he's tweeted a totally normal, typical, everyday holiday family portrait:

Merry Christmas!Enjoy the ones you love #countonfamily twitter.com/nikebasketball

Kobe Bryant (@nikebasketball) December 25, 2012

Bryant actually joined Twitter for realsies back in 2011, but then deleted the account after racking up more than 35,000 followers in a just a few hours. He's one of the NBA's few stars without a Twitter presence. Nearly 90% of the league's players are on the social network, according to Twitter.

But Bryant did become much more active on Facebook this summer, especially while traveling with the United States' Olympic basketball team. He has nearly 15 million fans there, and reportedly writes his status updates and messages himself, with editing and actual posting done by support staff. In November he asked Facebook fans whether to join Instagram or Twitter next, and on Monday hinted in a status update that he may soon open an Instagram account.

What athletes would you most like to see get more active on social media? Let us know in the comments.

BONUS: 30 Must-Follow Twitter Accounts This NBA SEASON

1. @NBA The NBA is arguably the world's most engaging sports league on social media. Follow its official Twitter account for news, highlights and promotions.

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Thumbnail image courtesy Flickr, Keith Allison

This story originally published on Mashable here.