David Sheepshanks believes football "has to adjust" to social networking and he wants players to be educated at club level in dealing with and handling Twitter.
Joey Barton's spat with Newcastle, which has seen the midfielder being given a free transfer, has highlighted the impact of social media.
Former Football Association board member Sheepshanks, in charge of the National Football Centre at St George's Park, Burton, recognises it is here to stay.
But he believes programmes should be put in place to help players handle themselves appropriately.
He said: "The game will have to learn to adjust to social media and I'm sure it will just as it adjusted to satellite television 15-20 years ago.
"Is it something youngsters need to be educated on? Yes, definitely. My view is football has got to adjust to social media and not just here at St George's Park, which is all about learning, but also at club level.
"I hope the programmes will be instituted at club level which will better equip young players to deal with the sort of things that happen. But how will we equip people at clubs better? It is by teaching the coaches better here (at the National Centre)."
Sheepshanks was reluctant to be drawn into the comments on football governance in a report from the Commons culture, media and sports committee last week.
MPs called for a major overhaul of the way the game is run.
Sheepshanks is backing the FA's plan to install independent directors.
Sheepshanks said: "The FA hasn't always been the most reformist body.
"I'm very glad a vote was taken by the FA board on independent directors and I think the FA council has backed it and it now needs to go to share-holders. I've been a firm advocate of independent directors from the beginning. I hope the share-holders endorse it."
