The increasing popularity of social networking sites has brought a lot of attention and concern over the positive and negative impacts of such activity on users. Even though for some users, a social networking site is a way of communicating with friends and family, or a way of connecting with the rest of the world by making new friends via the Internet, for others, social networking sites are a place where they may become vulnerable.

The most eloquent example that fits the latter category is the case of 13-year-old Megan Meier, who in 2006 ended her life over a boy she met on the social networking site MySpace. Megan, who was struggling to overcome low self-esteem and depression, and was also taking medication for attention deficit disorder, became a golden fish in a pool of sharks.

Even though her mother regularly supervised her Internet sessions, she was unable to prevent a tragedy from happening the only time she was not there. Megan became the victim of what she considered to be a friend, but was in fact a fictional boy created by the sick mind of a vengeful mother.

Cyberbullying is a term that we’ve encountered a lot lately, following the legal matter that arose from Megan’s death. Lori Drew, the woman who pretended to be Megan’s online teen friend, and the person who ultimately caused her to commit suicide by sending her the ruthless message “the world would be a better place without you,” was found guilty on three misdemeanor counts of computer fraud. However, the woman was not found guilty of conspiracy.

“It’s never been about vengeance,” Megan’s mom said following the verdict. “This is about justice… It’s justice not only for Megan, it’s justice for everybody who has to go through this, with a computer and being harassed. I don’t want another family to stand here and go through what I’ve had to endure.”

According to witnesses in the case of Megan Meier, Lori Drew had set up the account to find out what Megan had to say about her own daughter, who was her former friend. Furthermore, Lori Drew reportedly planned to spread rumors about Megan in school, to humiliate her, according to her former employee Susan Prouty’s testimony.

Last year, a report by Pew Internet & American Life Project drew attention on the fact that one in three online teens have experienced online harassment, and out of them, girls were more likely to become victims. Furthermore, teens who shared their identities and thoughts online were also more likely to become targets of cyberbullying than those with less active online lives.

Fifteen percent of teens admitted someone had forwarded or posted communication they assumed was private, while 13 percent of them said someone had spread a rumor about them online, another 13 percent reported someone had sent them a threatening or aggressive email, IM or text message, and 6 percent of them said someone had posted an embarrassing picture of them without permission.

The case of Megan Meier calls for boundaries when it comes to cyberbullying and the use of social networking sites in general, but also calls for reason. Social networking sites and the Internet in general have become more than just virtual realities, they are now part of our everyday lives, and they influence us in ways that we cannot ignore. What we must learn from this is that our actions may have unimaginable consequences on other people, even when it comes to the Internet, so think twice before you act.