If all you got was abuse, would you still tweet?

Take one look at the replies Yaya Toure received after announcing his Twitter comeback, and you may wonder why he bothered reactivating his account.

Alongside the typical abuse the 31-year-old will be used to were at least two racist tweets.

Toure's crime? It's hard to tell. Perhaps a simple reference to his side's victory over Manchester United.

So it begs the question, in the face of such abuse, why do footballers even bother tweeting?

The first tweet Toure posted after rejoining Twitter

For 90 minutes on a Saturday afternoon the Premier League elite bask in the support of tens of thousands of cheering fans.

But when the stadium empties and the players return to yet another soulless hotel room, the life of a footballer can be quite a lonely one.

Twitter can help bridge that divide between the on and off field existences says Dr Victor Thompson, a sports psychologist from sportspsychologist.co.uk.

"It can help build relationships. It's good for fans and can be good for players too," he says.

"You are more connected with people and you have a better sense of well being. It's better than having no connection at all.

"It's a nice feeling if people follow you back, favourite your tweets and retweet you. More friends, more followers, it feels good."

And it's a two-way street. Despite the abuse some players face, there are plenty of fans who feel it's helped repair the relationship between them and the players they pay to watch each week.

So even if it's crammed into 140 characters, footballers perhaps feel a little less remote thanks to Twitter.

Time-consuming habit

For some, what started out as a giddy pastime has developed in to a bit of an obsession.

Take Marvin Sordell. The former England U21 striker became the first player to be described by his own manager as suffering "an addiction" to Twitter.

At the time Sordell was playing under Dougie Freedman at Bolton Wanderers.

"There have been small issues off the field with his tweeting, let's not hide, and we're trying to deal with it," said the then Bolton Wanderers boss.

"It could be bordering on an obsession with Twitter and Facebook and all the things that go on with these kids."

Looking at his Twitter page it seems Sordell, now at Premier League Burnley, isn't quite as prolific a tweeter as he once was.

But with nearly 30,000 followers there are still plenty of people who want to listen to what he has to say.

The brand

There's no doubt a big social media presence can help boost a player's image and bank account if managed the right way.

Cristiano Ronaldo is a case in point. The Real Madrid man has 31 million followers on Twitter, a global audience that has brand managers queuing up, chequebooks in hand.

"There's great benefit in being able to demonstrate to sponsors that they have a good number of followers," says Rebecca Hopkins, the managing director of e.n.s PR agency.

"Obviously sponsors want to associate themselves with excellence and popularity."

The Portuguese winger was voted the sport's most valuable player in the world in 2013 for the second time in his career.

And that, coupled with his global social media following, has landed him mega sponsorships with the likes of Tag Heuer, Nike and his own underwear label.

Lads banter

Strip away the multimillion pound contracts and the gated mansions and footballers are just a bunch of 20-somethings who are good at kicking a ball.

As such, they enjoy the simple pleasures of poking fun at one another, like mates do up and down the country.

"Some are on it (Twitter) because of the banter that goes on," says Rebecca Hopkins, who's worked with Arsenal and Liverpool among other sports clubs.

"They have a lot of fun with each other. Most are young men and women who just happen to be sports people.

"It's nice to get the locker room access, see who the jokers are. It's a money can't buy experience for a sports fan. It's really enjoyable to witness."

One of those who loves a verbal joust more than most is former England striker Michael Owen.

The BT Sport pundit regularly pits fights with the likes of Piers Morgan, much to the amusement of his 2.98 million followers.

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