Social networking sites are the places where people should make new friends, exchange new, interesting information and experiences and, ultimately, gain enough social experience to manage in the real world. Unfortunately, it is very common that these sites are used for phishing and spamming and even for making people take their own lives.

 In a bizarre and almost unbelievable case, that is presently being judged, a Missouri mother created a MySpace account under the identity of a teenage boy in order to pick on a girl who, ultimately, committed suicide. Lori Drew, the Missouri mother, is being accused of conspiracy and harassment and if found guilty on all charges she might spend a total of 20 years in prison.

Lori Drew created a false account on MySpace, using the virtual identity of a teenage boy, and started exchanging messages with 13 year old Megan Meier. After the relationship got more serious, the Missouri mother apparently said that the girls would do the world a favor if she would just disappear. Unfortunately, it is believed that this led to her suicide. The young girl was already being treated for depression and this was the last thing she needed.

It’s a real shame that the Internet can be used for such things, when people should appreciate it for the source of infinite information that it is. Even sadder is that this is not an isolated case as other people committed suicide and used the internet for gaining a last drop of popularity.