Whether for the better or not, internet social networking is one of the biggest internet commodities now. Facebook alone have more than 175 millions active users and the numbers of social networking sites like FaceBook out there are astonishing. FaceBook was not new, there were others like Friendster, MySpace, Tagged.com and Twitter etc. The advantage is that we now can easily make friends no matter where you are in the world and share information and communicate, the disadvantage is that you do not really know who you might be talking to. A person’s virtual identity can be really different from whom he really be as these sites allows one to input his/her personal information without true verification. While the case of Julie Doe was a true example of a sexual assault caused indirectly by such a social networking site, there are other ways where privacy can be violated as in the case of Gary Ng by using such mediums.
Such social networking sites are but just a machine to perform other functions. If used properly it helps to tighten a community and pulls relationships closer, if not it harms people and violates privacy rights. You may think that you know someone very well through these networks, but thinking again – you make not really know him or her after all.
Here are some of the popular social networking sites
FaceBook
Friendster
Habbo
Hi5
LiveJournal
MySpace
Tagged.com
Twitter
Reference
Facebook 2009, statistics FaceBook, viewed 24th March 2009
<http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics>
Samson, M 2008, Jane Doe, Individually and as Next Friend of Julie Doe, a minor v. Myspace, Inc. and News Corporation, Internet Library of Law and Court Decisions, viewed 24th March 2009
<http://www.internetlibrary.com/cases/lib_case513.cfm>
Hanqing, L 2009, I secretly film women in bed when they don't give consent, The Electric New Paper, viewed 24th March 2009
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