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Fans aren't safe on Facebook or Twitter

Posted: Thursday 21st January 2010 13:04

Manchester United recently told all their fans that none of their favourite players can be contacted on the social media sites, and to treat all profiles with ‘extreme scepticism.’  Fans shouldn't trust that any of the 385 Wayne Rooneys on facebook, or the 43 currently tweeting updates on twitter are genuine.  The same goes for practically any other celebrity or famous sportsperson.

"Anyone can set themselves up as a famous player on facebook or twitter. We’d urge fans not to bother with these websites – they aren’t safe. Fans certainly shouldn’t try to contact their heroes through those sites – they don’t know who they are talking to, and need to be extremely careful what they send" said Adam Brown from www.contacttheplayers.com.

"Thankfully, there is another option for fans – on our website. We deal directly with the players themselves, and control all the profiles on our site. People can’t just sign up and create their own account with whatever name they choose.  We’ve exclusively contracted over 200 sporting heroes who we can guarantee are genuine – and we expect that number to grow exponentially over the next few months.  Players also prefer to use our service because the massages they send are private – they don’t end up in the public domain like messages on Facebook or Twitter, so they can be more open and honest.”

This includes Rugby Union's England star Nick Easter, top golfers Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood, cricketers Freddie Flintoff and Graham Onions, and a number of footballers - including Michael Mancienne and Ranger's number 1 Alan McGregor.

“When fans send a message through our website, they know they are communicating securely and directly with the player.  The players login and send instant messages back - if a message arrives in your website inbox from Andrew Flintoff, fans can be 100% assured that it is from the man himself."

The site has some footballers signed-up to respond to fan messages, but also offers a global fanmail solution for contacting the rest of the Premier League footballers.  "Fans can communicate securely with players who haven’t yet signed up to respond to fans – the likes of Wayne Rooney and Fernando Torres.

“We print the messages off and send them in a booklet to the players, in the post.  Just like all other postal fanmail, we can't guarantee the player will read their post, and can’t guarantee they will respond, but we can 100% guarantee that it reaches him at his training ground.   It’s easier for him to read our booklet than a huge pile of fanmail, and at just 25p from anywhere in the world, it’s a lot cheaper than sending a letter.  We've had a lot of interest in our printed message service from fans abroad, who want to congratulate or commiserate with the players."

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