And this is the danger of the online profile. This month has seen the tragic death of Nona Belomesoff who was killed after responding to an advertisement on facebook. She had been deceived and lured out into a campground and murdered. This reveals the biggest flaw with having an online life, the way people represent themselves is not the way they actually are. It sounds like a very straight-forward proposition and readers may scoff and think that they would not fall into the same trap that Nona did but I am not referring to merely strangers (who should be avoided in nearly all capacity whilst online). The way each of us sets up our profile is in such a way as we wish to be perceived. A friend’s profile (and indeed your own) is very unlikely to correspond to who the actual person is.

It seems these social networking websites get more and more news every day. For instance, opening some news pages on my browser reveals a “facebook: What you’re sharing” on the Herald Sun home page; an article reporting that facebook is hindering the police in an investigation (with the undertone that personal information from facebook should be revealed to the police); an article about ANZ catching debtors over facebook; and a report on a fake twitter account for BP. And this is the second dangerous reality – once an individual’s personal information is up on the net (in any capacity) it is open game for anyone to hack or use in any form. The amount of identity theft has escalated with the rise of internet networking.

The other existing danger of these sites is the ability to get lost in a world that is not reality. Facebook and twitter can become addictive playgrounds where people can spend hours living a life that doesn’t exist. Just look at the regularity people are getting caught at work checking out a friend’s profile. Or indeed what about Catherine Deveny and her sacking for explicit comments made via twitter updates. People have this perception that one can do whatever they like on a social networking site and have no ramifications. Word of advice – illegality and immorality transcend to the cyber world.

Having said all this, these sites are not completely unhealthy and there are some positives. However, do not be fooled into thinking these dangers do not exist.