Manchester United midfielder Darron Gibson became the latest footballer to join Twitter the other day – but closed his account after just two hours after being on the receiving end of some pretty abusive treatment (or is that tweetment?) – from his own fans.

After his arrival was announced by team mate and Twitter king Rio Ferdinand, Gibson was welcomed with such comments as…

“Nothing would make me happier than if we sold you in the summer, you’re probably a nice bloke, but an awful footballer”.

“Your performance on saturday was one of the worst I’ve ever seen of any utd player. scared of the ball much?”

“Hasn’t tweeted yet. Seems somewhat fitting after the countless anonymous performances we’ve seen from the ‘footballer’”

Amazing really as these are probably the same fans that would deride footballers for losing touch with them and living in an Ivory Tower! I suspect Darron is back up in his with the luxury doors double-bolted.

Truth is Darron is a good, solid yet unspectacular midfielder playing in a midfield crying out for creativity. He’ll probably end up at Newcastle, Villa or Bolton and end up the fulcrum of their team but as a top class midfielder in a top class team like Utd he’ll inevitably come up short. Having said that Darren Fletcher and John O’Shea seem to have stuck around so you never know. He’s not contributed that much to the game yet (unlike Rio or another Twitter newcomer Michael Owen) so was always going to be something of a easy target for the boo boys. As long as he’s wearing a red shirt he’ll get my support.

It just goes to show though that not all social media is right for everyone.

The truth is that whether you’re an individual or a brand (and in a footballers case you are happen to be both) the key to making successful use of any new media is the same as it always was with old media.

Work out who you are (and be honest with yourself), what you want to say and who you want to say it to. Only then can you determine how and where you should say it.

And don’t just have a twitter/facebook/blog/website because everyone else has got one. Think of what you’re going to use it for. What you’ve got to say.

One of my colleagues the other day was amazed and bemused that his favourite soft cheese now wanted him to follow it on Facebook. Understandable in a way, as nobody likes to think of their own social life being eclipsed by a dairy product. But is Facebook for cheese really necessary? In this case it definitely is.

You see Philadelphia has recently undergone something of a repositioning. As well as being a light and healthy accompaniment to a Rivita we can now cook a variety of creamy dishes with it too. The current “local heroes’ campaign allows everyday people to create and share their own experimental Philadelphia dishes. A really clever campaign to support the positioning and a good combination of offline and online strategy.

So if you’re a soft cheese looking to be seen as a genuine recipe ingredient of the people, then maybe Facebook is the place to spread (no pun intended) your new found purpose in life. If you’re an honest but average premiership footballer still trying to make your way in the game then the open forum of Twitter probably isn’t the right place for you.

Brands like Philadelphia, Tesco and Coca-Cola are really switched on as to how social media can integrate into their marketing communications. Experienced and respected footballers like Rio Ferdinand and Cesc Fabregas know how to use Twitter to speak to the fans and media from a position of authority as well as raise their own profiles.

As for Darron, if you really would like to share your experiences I’d start off with a personal blog site linking-in with Facebook. That way you can share your wisdom and attract genuine United supporters as well as moderate their responses!

Also, keep your chin up, watch some DVD’s of Roy Keane and don’t pass the ball sideways as much.

Today I had a read through some of the Blogs I’ve written over the last few weeks. They’ve really started to expose a lot about my character and personality, but I guess that is the whole reason Blogs were invented. They’re a tool to express our personal views and opinions, so naturally we’re going to let slip a few things about our private lives. But Blogs in a professional environment are now forming part of brand culture.

I’m always talking to clients about how they need to bring out more of their brand personality. So many of them seem to hide behind a sea of imagery that doesn’t reflect who they really are and use jargon on their website that they would never actually dream of saying.

Communicating a brand personality can be quite difficult. All to often we see companies that think a team photo on their website and personal biogs gets across the ‘culture’ of their brand. But we now have other platforms to do this, we just need to understand how to use them.

Blogs and Social Media are two very good examples of this. Tools such as these offer brands a really good opportunity to reveal their ‘inner selves’ and create some stand out over their competitors. But before you let everyone loose on your Twitter account you need to bear a few things in mind.

Blogs and Twitter give people freedom, which is often not a great idea when you’re wanting to keep some control of your brand. There needs to be a very clear distinction between what people say on their own personal accounts and what they say in a professional capacity. So, consider developing some Social Media and Blogging guidelines. This will not only help you retain some brand consistency but guidelines will also help encourage a better quality of contribution.

At Studio North we encourage people to draw on their own life experiences and apply them to our industry. The more people do this the more confident they become which means we’re never light on content and at times have to shut a few people up!

Blogging and Social Media guidelines are part of the Studio North offer so if you feel you need some direction in this area then please give us a shout.

So what do my Blogs say about me? Well so far I’m a mountain climbing, McDonalds eating, Asda shopper who has an eye for a bargain.

What could your Blog say about you?