The Dark Secrets of Social Networking

The darker side of social networking has come to the limelight with the ongoing US trial of Lori Drew, the 49-year-old lady who has been charged of cyber bullying. Considered a landmark case, this is proof of the power of social networking to change lives, albeit in a negative manner.

The case revolves around the apparent cyber bullying by Lori Drew of a 13-year-old girl on the social networking site My Space. The girl later killed herself. Due to the pioneering nature of the case, Ms Drew has been charged with laws that usually pertain to company hackers.

The case is one of impersonation and cyber bullying, the further details of which can be read here. What is interesting is with social networking having become so deeply ingrained in our lives, will it soon become part and parcel of Sociology theory? Surely we are already seeing the effects of Social networking on society at large – after all it did help play a key role in putting the next American President in the Oval Office! An inclusion of social networking theory in the fundamentals of sociology and how people interact will definitely reflect the changing times.