I know that social networking sites most-definitely have their benefits - I am ashamed to admit that I regularly tweet general rubbish that nobody cares about (along with the rest of Twitter's 140million other users), and if it wasn't for Facebook events, I'd probably be a recluse. Yet, beneath all of their positives, there are some very worrying negatives that come from these ever-growing, ever-developing social-networking sites. Take my psychotic ex-boyfriend, who publicly humiliated me as he wrote nasty comments all over my Facebook page after the breakup. I'm sure you can imagine my shock and embarrassment when I logged on to the site and had received over 50 notifications. A couple of weeks later, I was at a party (which, ironically, I was invited to through a Facebook event) and people I had only met once or twice began to ask me about the Facebook disaster, which, apparently had made it onto the 'Top Stories' section on their newsfeeds. By this time, 'our' relationship had become a relationship which included another 862 of my Facebook friends, and I was very, very embarrassed that I had ever dated the weirdo.
It's not just me who has suffered from the downside of social networking sites. What about that time when Russell Brand posted a less-flattering, bare-faced photograph of his then wife, Katy Perry? It hardly must have done the couple any favours, as they divorced earlier this year. This is the biggest worry that comes from sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Myspace - the worry that too much will be revealed to too many people. I doubt Katy Perry wanted that photo to be seen by Brand's 5 million followers on Twitter, and I certainly didn't want my personal relationship to be broadcasted to the rest of my friends.
Not only do social networking sites pose threats to relationships, they can also be damaging to any future career prospects, as married US Democrat Anthony Weiner discovered when he accidentally sent a link to a picture of his crotch to the Twitfeed, as opposed to sending it privately to a 21 year old woman. Weiner resigned a week later. It's a shame that 30 years ago you'd probably be driven out of your job due to other reasons and online disasters like Weiner's were unheard of.
And there is, of course, the cliché of online bullying and paedophilia - thanks to sites like Habbo Hotel, there are way too many people claiming to be a lot younger than they really are. I wonder how many of Habbo's 230 million users are actually dirty, old men prying on the innocence of children? I am not sure I'd even like to know the answer of that.
XoX
The Online Bitch
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