Features editor Joni Ager looks at the power of social networking sites for good and bad.


When a woman posted a flirtatious messages on the MySpace profile of a man she had falsely accused of rape, it was all the jury needed to clear his name.

Kettering security guard Alan Watts faced prison over 10 alleged sex attacks. But the court heard one of his accusers sent Mr Watts a message on MySpace saying: "Why aren't I in your top friends?" – after she claimed the attack had taken place.

The woman closed her MySpace account after she went to the police but when he was arrested Mr Watts' former girlfriend downloaded the page before the messages were deleted to use as part of his defence.

It is believed to be the first case in the country to use extracts from the social networking site as evidence.

For the most part, social networking sites such as MySpace – apart from being highly addictive – are nothing more than a bit of fun.

Since the first site of it kind was launched in 1997 they have spread like wildfire. An estimated 10 million Brits use these websites, a figure that is set to rise to 27 million – half the population – by 2021.

So what is the appeal?

Graham McBeath, head of media at the University of Northampton, said: "In terms of social impact their growth has been very rapid.
People very quickly got into the idea of the old virtual communities and what social networking sites have done is create a whole new medium through which to express themselves.

"These sites provide you with a way of revealing aspects of yourself. In the way the rich and famous used to love to have paintings of themselves, you can have your own image and ego reflected back at you."

While Alan Watts' online persona paid off for him, allowing him to walk free, others have been stung by their use of such sites, including the man caught skipping work because of a comment he posted online.

And it has been claimed some companies and universities have assessed a potential worker or student by snooping on their Facebook or MySpace profiles. There has even been talk of ID fraud through such sites.

But Mr McBeath said: "People believe there are many more dangers than there are. There is no systematic evidence of anyone being harmed by a social networking site.

"Social networking is very enjoyable, people get a lot out of it and find it an interesting way of enriching how they communicate."


Caught out by unguarded comments

After a night of heavy drinking Kyle Doyle decided he would phone in sick and treat himself to a day in bed.

To celebrate his day off the 21-year-old Australian call centre worker updated the status on his Facebook page, writing "not going to work, i'm still trashed SICKIE WOO".

Unfortunately for Kyle, his online boast did not go unnoticed by his boss.

When he returned to work Kyle was told he would not receive sick pay for his absence. When he challenged this the HR manager emailed him a screen grab of his Facebook page – including his status update.


Virgin Atlantic sacked 13 cabin staff after they criticised the airline and some of its passengers on Facebook.

The action follows an investigation into the remarks posted on the social networking site concerning planes flying from Gatwick Airport and insulting passengers, as well as reportedly saying the planes were full of cockroaches.


A Toronto city councillor called the police after discovering someone has been impersonating him on Facebook.

Howard Moscoe said he learned of the identity theft when a fellow councillor mentioned that he was his "friend".

Mr Moscoe asked his grand-daughter to check out the profile his online impersonator.

He discovered the fraudster had made defamatory remarks about his fellow councillors. Mr Moscoe contacted Facebook administrators and had the account suspended.