Football clubs clamp down on Twitter and Facebook

Some of the Premier Legue's biggest stars have been banned form using social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook for fear of embarrassing themselves or their club.

The news comes after a series of high profile Twitter mishaps involving professional athletes - most notably footballers. The latest saw Liverpool winger Ryan Babel, who is known to be unhappy at the club, complain about his omission from the squad to play Stoke last weekend, prompting a row with his manager Rafa Benitez.

That incident came just days before Manchester United felt compelled to announce that none of its players "maintain personal profiles on social networking websites". Manchester City has also revealed that its players have been warned not to set up accounts on social networks.

Although United claimed that its players had only been "advised" not to engage with their fans via the sites it has been reported that Twitter accounts belonging to Ryan Giggs, Darren Fletcher and Wayne Rooney have disappeared, while Facebook accounts for Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown and Giggs have gone down.

Opinion is divided as to whether it is a good idea to prevent players from using sites like Twitter. Clubs fear that trouble can be stirred up by imposters setting up fake accounts and United believe it is safer if everyone knows that its players do not communicate in that way.

The possibility of a PR disaster always looms when players are given a free rein to speak their minds, they may let slip club secrets or simply say something controversial. Another concern is that they take fans away from official channels. If supporters are visiting a player's website instead of the club's website then merchandising and other opportunities go begging.

However, advocates of social media think the clubs are over reacting say that the solution is simple. Media training for players would help, as would strict guidelines about what issues they can talk about.

Digital PR expert Eb Adeyeri told the Manchester Evening News that a blanket ban would create a "brick wall" between players and fans. "Social media sites are not the enemy; they are a medium for clubs to better engage with their supporters, wherever they may be," he claimed.

Sunderland striker Darren Bent is one of football's most high-profile Twitter users and has more than 30,000 followers. He caused controversy in the summer by using the site to agitate for a transfer when negotiations between his old club Spurs and Sunderland stalled. Late last year West Ham's Danny Gabbidon had to apologise to fans after appearing to criticise them in a post.

Australian cricketer Phil Hughes blotted his copybook during the Ashes when he revealed that he had been dropped from the Test team before the official announcement had been made.

However the service seems well suited to longer sports like cricket, golf and cycling. Several high profile cricketers including England's Graeme Swann Tweet regularly, and commentators use it to post match updates and add colour to proceedings. Cyclist Lance Armstrong is a well-known advocate, he and British rider Brad Wiggins both Tweeted throughout last year's Tour de France and Armstrong even announced the launch of his new team using Twitter. ·