Hernandez was speaking at the Global Sports Forum here, during a session entitled: "Digitally-savvy champions: when athletes become media of their own" saw him and former New Zealand rugby icon Jonah Lomu discuss how social networking can be used to sport's advantage and how athletes, such as Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, can also get it wrong.

"Cristiano Ronaldo is the best athlete at self-marketing on social networks," Hernandez said.

"Everyone remembers the shock created by him publishing the first photo of his child on Facebook.

"Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United are by far the best clubs at using social networking.

"Their fans are responding very well.

"In contrast, I know there is some tension between Premier League players, clubs and the FA.

"Players would like to be free to express themselves but recent stories have shown that they can't be."

Hernandez was referring to the incident in January when Liverpool star Ryan Babel became the first player to be charged with improper conduct over a Twitter posting.

The 24-year-old Dutch winger criticised referee Howard Webb for his performance in Liverpool's FA Cup tie with Manchester United at Old Trafford, and posted a picture of the referee mocked up in a Manchester United shirt, after Webb awarded United a penalty in the first minute and later sent off Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard.

Hernandez said that sports stars using ghost-writers or members of their management team to post on social networks on their behalf, such as Rooney, lose the chance to have a fruitful, engaging and direct fan-athlete relationship.

"Those who use Facebook poorly are those athletes who do not manage their presence themselves - it's as simple as that," he said.

"For example, Wayne Rooney - it's just not what you would want to hear as a fan.

"Facebook always has had a special relationship with sport.

"Many athletes and sports brands use us to promote themselves and that is why our search engine shows only official pages.

"We ensure that these pages are not being used fraudulently.

"Facebook has a growing interest in brands and athletes because it can be used as a tool to measure the emotional impact of your fans on your posts.

"Via sharing tools, reviews, the 'like' buttons, you can easily get an idea of how people react to your publications."

Lomu (pictured), himself an active social networker, agreed with Facebook business chief.

"I have a special relationship with social networks," said the legendary All Black star, who won 63 caps for New Zealand and scored 37 tries in a distinguished career.

"I sleep very little - maybe one and a half hours a night - and I'm connected 24/7.

"Fans always want to know more about you and it seems normal to satisfy them.

"This brings my audience closer.

"I think athletes should manage their own pages themselves.

"You feel the difference when it is an agent who does it for them, it disappoints the fans. I decided to open my accounts to everyone.

"I post almost everything about my life.

"It's a personal choice, but I'm proud of my fiancé and my children, and proud to share my family photos with my fans.

"Sponsors sometimes ask athletes to promote their products - I do not need anyone to ask me, as for me it seems normal. It is part of the game. Sometimes I receive criticism but now I can answer people and give my own point of view."

The debate came as the Global Sports Forum released the findings of a pan-European study into how fans consume sport.

The research found that teams, sporting events and other sporting properties continue to struggle to leverage the power of social networking sites and have only moderately succeeded in driving fans to interact via Facebook, Twitter or the blogosophere.

The figures showed that only 15 per cent of sports fans visit the official Facebook pages for their teams - preferring to log on to official team websites - and only 9 per cent follow sporting properties or athletes via Twitter.

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