SHOWING my age here – I’m 31 – I remember as a youngster having to patiently wait for the television screen to change on Teletext to see the senior results from the Bolton and District Cricket Association on Saturday nights.

The annoyance when the chairman turned the TV off at the wrong moment meaning you had to go round again, and then having to wait until Friday for the scorecards to be in the Bury Times.

Nowadays things are different, technology has changed remarkably to keep up to date with local cricket.

Ball-by-ball updates with CricHQ, MyAction replay for those fans who have emigrated, and, of course, Twitter and Facebook.

All are phenomenal platforms to keep up to date on how your club or rivals are faring. But are clubs using social media in the right way?

I spend a lot of my time on these platforms so I take a keen interest in what sort of content clubs post, not just on matchdays, and I scratch my head sometimes with what I read.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying every club uses social media poorly, but we all just need to be a little mindful of the content that is posted, because the views of one person running a club account may not necessarily be the views of the club or its committee.

Clubs need to be careful who has access to the official club accounts. Regularly the person (or persons) handling the club account engages with players of clubs that have opposing views to their own, or enters into a debate with a local journalist about the current state of the cricket structure in Bury and Bolton.

Clubs have a responsibility to ensure there is positive use of social media, as they have sponsors (existing or potential), commercial partners, league officials, function attendees and junior parents viewing their platforms.

Social media can be a powerful tool capable of bringing clubs and communities closer together.

For example, Radcliffe recently posted their outfield mower had broken down, and Prestwich helped them to source a solution in the short term.

Also, Woodbank used Twitter and Facebook to successfully promote their T20 drinks offer in a bid to increase the attendance for their game against Bury.

Stand publicised the hard work of one of its younger members in raising more than £3,000 for charity, and Bury shared their efforts in providing old playing kit and equipment for people overseas.

These are all extremely positive uses of social media, much better than using the club account to vent about the standard of officiating, number of local games in your league compared to others, or the opposition’s efforts to get the game on.

Finally, a little tip for players and members; some of the content your club posts may not be relevant to yourselves but give it a like or share via your own social media platforms to increase its reach because it could lead to new members spending money in your bar, new junior or senior players arriving or new volunteers assisting the committee to give up their time.