Who has most to gain from Twittering footballers ... and who loses?

On an almost daily basis more and more players are opening Twitter accounts and it is putting the fear of God into some, less less enlightened, people in the game.

Players (and ex-players) like Rio Ferdinand, Joey Barton and Robbie Savage have followers in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, and it gives them an opportunity to talk directly to their fans ... or enemies in Robbie's case!

If you are a canny operator like Ferdinand, there is also the potential to generate revenue by providing links to your own website where you can sell products or carry advertising. And frankly I have no problem with that. He's putting the effort in and so good luck to him.

But there are club officials out there who have for years tried to control what their players say and who they say it to - whether it be by insisting on knowing what questions are to be asked before journalists put them, sanitising interviews via a club's web TV feed or, in at least one case that I know of, insisting the players use club mobiles so they can see who they've spoken to when they get the itemised bills!

In my lifetime (and I generalise here) I've seen media relations with players go from cordial, mutual respect  - in a sense that everyone is playing a part in the same circus - to mistrust as money (in football) and sensationalism (in the media) take hold.

Before the advent of Twitter, increasing number of players were becoming media savvy, but in the process, actually saying less. Now social networking is becoming the norm, it seems as though a weight has been lifted from their shoulders. They're liberated and they feel can just be themselves. That's got to be a good thing for the fans - not to mention the players themselves.

The traditional media have little to worry about. On the contrary, in some cases it's another source of material. And anyway, a 140 character message doesn't compete directly with a newspaper article of a television feature. Fans will still want to hear, see or read more substantial interviews.

In a funny sort of way, Twitter is allowing the clock to be turned back as players feel that they no longer need give stock answers and can be themselves. It's refreshing and I'm all in favour of them asserting themselves. One of the nice things about what I do is getting to know players as human beings and Twitter allows fans to do this to a certain extent.

I'm just not sure that some club officials are feeling the same way though as some will believe they are losing the control they have enjoyed for so long.