Chelsea net title of Premier League social media champions; Rooney outscores Rio Ferdinand as top tweeter

The Blues finished ahead of Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs and trounced League leaders Manchester United who were ranked eighth overall. Blackburn,Bolton and newly-promoted Swansea occupied the bottom three places in the league.

The study by technology consultants LEWIS Communications examined a range of factors such as the number of Twitter and Facebook followers, level of interaction with fans, ease of online access and app development and attached a score to each.

The research found that despite having the highest number of Facebook fans ' 19 million - Manchester United were using the popular social networking site mainly to broadcast messages and doing little to engage with followers. There was also little interaction with the club's 20,000 Twitter followers.

The Old Trafford side's Facebook following is nearly three times that of Arsenal in second place on 7.5 million, Liverpool and Chelsea both on seven million each and Manchester City on one million. The Big Five's combined Facebook audience dwarfs the other 15 clubs in the division which muster just over 1.6 million between them.

United were one of just three teams along with Fulham and Norwich not to have an iPhone app although none of the Premier League clubs have an official Android app.

The table will make welcome reading for Chelsea fans who saw their team well beaten by their Manchester rivals in the title race last season. The Stamford Bridge club post daily Facebook and Twitter updates and they are the only team with a press area on their website along with Wolves. They also have interactive spaces on their website for supporters and are present on YouTube and the photo-sharing site Flickr.

Out of the 20 teams, only Bolton don't have an official Facebook presence and Aston Villa and West Brom are the only sides with an official LinkedIn page. Swansea is the only club without a Twitter page.

The report found that Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney was the Premier League's top tweeter with 1,567,967 followers, taking over from team-mate Rio Ferdinand on 1,516,559. Other players with big Twitter audiences include Manchester City's Sergio Aguero on 1,023,159 and Arsenal's Jack Wilshire on 893,424.

"Social media has fundamentally reshaped the way people interact with the world around them and this is no more apparent than within the field of sport," said Alex Clough, digital strategist at LEWIS Communications. "Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have allowed a new generation of fans to connect with their football idols and teams in ways that they haven't been able to within the modern game and clubs need to embrace this.

"It's important that clubs do not just use these social channels to broadcast their messages but also to open up an authentic dialogue with fans to answer queries and complaints as promptly and efficiently as possible."

A lot has been made in recent times of the relationship between footballers and social networking. In January, Ryan Babel, then of Liverpool, was fined £10,000 by the Football Association after he posted a mocked-up picture of referee Howard Webb in a Manchester United shirt.

Other players like Joey Barton, Carlton Cole and Danny Gabbidon have also been in trouble with the FA over their use of social networks. Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has called on the Premier League toissue guidelines on acceptable social media use in the wake of the furore over Barton's tweets about his relationship with the Geordie club before he moved to QPR.

Clough said: 'It's critically important for clubs to have a clear strategy for social media and guidelines for players and staff about what'sacceptable and what isn't.

"With the global appeal of the Premier League, fans from around the world will increasingly look to engage with clubs and players via social networks.

"Those that don't get a handle on it risk scoring a huge own goal online."

The full results of the study, with an infographic can be found on the LEWIS Communications news site: https://www.lewispr.co.uk/News/Chelsea-net-title-of-Premier-League-social-media-c.aspx