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The Internet has created a whole new world of social communications or social networking for young people who
are using e-mail, Web sites, instant messaging, chat rooms and text messaging to stay in touch with friends and make
new ones. While most interactions are positive, new technologies have given young people a new and powerful platform
from which to target peers through social networking. One effect that social networking have brought to the society is
cyber bullying.
What is Cyber bullying?
Cyber bullying is defined as bullying through information or communication technologies (Webster, n.d. 2011),
mediums such as, e-mails mobile phone text messages, phone calls, internet chat rooms, instant messaging and most
importantly and recently, social networking websites such as myspace, Facebook, and Bebo. As part of the study, the
researchers have tackled on the prominent reasons why social networking greatly causes cyber bullying to teenagers
(Hardcastle, M. 2012). To begin with there are a lot of reasons why social networking causes cyber bullying. According to
Rebecca Sweeney (Online Conference on Networks and Communities, 2011), social networking has been used as a
platform for bullies to say things they might not usually say to someone in person. This is because they do not have the
feeling of fear anymore since there is anonymity and no physical proximity on the victims. Bullies could just easily contact
or attack their victims. These attacks include receiving threatening messages; having their private emails or text
messages forwarded without consent; having an embarrassing picture posted without permission; or having rumours
about them spread online. Another, bullies can come in online contact with their victims anytime, anywhere, day or night
and not just in a school yard; making online bullying more accessible. Also, bullies have this feeling of confidence
whenever they are online due to the lack of fear already, enabling them to do what they want and it has a very wide
audience who can be able to witness the whole bullying events. In addition, cyber bullying has also turned the usual
image of "the bully" on its head; it's no longer only the "tough kids" who may act aggressively it can just as easily be the
shy, quiet types, hidden behind their computers making victims of cyber bullying.
There are a lot of different cases on how cyber bullies target their victims through social networking and according
to a study, young people are most likely to encounter cyber bullying through instant messaging, followed by e-mail, Web
sites for games and social networking. Like for example, in one case students used a camera-enabled cell phone to take
a photo of an overweight classmate in the shower after gym. The picture was distributed throughout the school via posting
it on a social networking site. Due to accessibility of social networking it contributed to the worsening of the problem of the
victim. Another on social networking sites, you can easily tag images with the names of people who are in the photo. This
simple act can lead to cyber bullying, as these photos will appear in any search into this persons name and it could be
inappropriate. This is due to profile settings that do not protect sufficient access to them. It was also researched that a
quarter of youth who perpetrate cyber bullying are teenagers who have also bullied others offline. However, the remaining
three quarters do not bully others in person implying that the Internet has empowered youth who would never consider
bullying anyone in the physical world to do so in the virtual world. (Hardcastle, M. 2012)
What is personal fraud?
Personal fraud or identity theft refers to a person obtaining personal information and using anothers personal data
without the consent of the rightful owner. This is used through fraud or deception usually for personal gain (Webster, n.d.
2011). Personal fraud is a huge problem in todays society and has come about as a result of the rapid expansion and
availability of internet technology and the increase in personal data found on social networking sites. (Sweeney, R. 2011).
Sites such as myspace, Facebook and Twitter facilitate personal fraud in two mains ways according to (Sweeney, R.
2011) first, is that sites encourage you to edit your profile this includes adding your interests, full name, where you live,
who your top friends are, your email address and even personal details like your phone number and relationship status.
This information disclosure causes a huge problem as the more information you have on your profile the easier it is for
posers to verify themselves as being you. The second main issue is the privacy settings on these social networking sites
also help facilitate personal fraud. While there are built in features that allow users to change their privacy settings and not
allow other users to view such personal details, these settings are never default, so that users are usually unaware how
much information they are sharing not only with their friends, but with the rest of the world. According to (Gonzalez,
M. 2012 ), due to the easy accessibility of ones information, scammers could easily steal the identity of a certain victim
and use it for personal gains like using the information they got to get money from your friends list since your friends
would think of the person asking money from them as you. With all these, it can threaten ones relationship in the
community. Once someone has your password they can use it to destroy your profile or send out spam messages and
viruses, which could do irreparable damage to your online reputation. Another case is when status updates posted on
Twitter, Facebook and many other social media sites can be used by criminals. Another is with the trending style today of
telling people through social networking sites almost everything they've done like updating posts like out of town or on
vacation, this just opened themselves up for burglary. If it was also mentioned that they're away for a business on a
weekend, it may leave family open to assault or robbery. When it comes to stalking or stealing an identity, use of photo-
and video-sharing sites like Flickr and youtube provide deeper insights into the victim, his or her family, friends, properties,
favorite hobbies and interests. And these are all vital information that when gotten into the hands of a poser or scammer
could result to even more grave problems on the victims part and the people surrounding him or her. Cyber bullying and
personal frauds lead to several problems:

Depression
There are a lot of reasons why it causes depression among teenagers. According to (Sweeney, R. 2011) that in
terms of cyber bullying, even though that it is not coming in physical contact and instilling physical injury on a victim, its
emotional and psychological effects are devastating for the victim and can often lead to depression. Also, unlike traditional
forms of bullying, youth who are the targets of cyber bullying at school are at greater risk for depression than are the youth
who bully them, according to a survey conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. The new finding is in
contrast to earlier studies of traditional bullying, which found that the highest depression scores were reported by another
category of youth involved in bullying-bully victims. Past studies on traditional bullying show that bully-victims those
who both bully others and are bullied themselves are more likely to report feelings of depression than are other groups.
Traditional forms of bullying involve physical violence, verbal taunts, or social exclusion. Cyber bullying, or electronic
aggression, involves aggressive behaviour communicated over a computer or a cell phone. It was noted by one author
who wrote in the Journal of Adolescent Health that cyber victims are reported to have higher depression than cyber bullies
or bully-victims, which was not found in any other form of bullying unlike traditional bullying which usually involves a face-
to-face confrontation, cyber victims may not see or identify their harasser; as such, cyber victims may be more likely to
feel isolated, dehumanized or helpless at the time of the attack. Victim of cyber bullying can also experience the
symptoms of depression including sadness, loneliness, insecurity, poor self-esteem, and academic decline, feelings of not
belonging and suicidal thoughts and behaviour. Nancy Willard, author of Cyber bullying and Cyber threats: Responding to
the Challenge of Online Social Aggression, Threats, and Distress, indicates that the effects of cyber bullying may be more
damaging than in-school bullying because cyber bullied children do not have the opportunity to escape the harassment.
Due to the anonymous nature of some Internet harassment, victims may not be able to identify their harasser and feel that
everyone is against them. In addition, it can cause a teen to feel totally trapped, because the bully can appear anywhere -
day or night. For example, a cyber-bully can post mean or taunting messages on a teen's Facebook page for everyone to
see. A bully can set up a web page, blog, or other online presence that is against a particular teenage peer. Embarrassing
accidents or incidents such as tripping or stuttering can be filmed (or the teen can even be set up for such an "accident"
and then filmed or photographed), then posted on video sites like youtube, played over and over while people laugh and
comment. It can make a teen feel like there is no escape. This mental anguish can result in depression. It also brings fear
and instills a traumatic experience to the victim due to the feeling of being downgraded and teased at that was being
exposed to a wide population. Teenagers who were victims become afraid to go out from their house due to the fear of
being laughed at because of a certain false rumor spread about him or her and much worse it can again instill a traumatic
experience on the victims part making him or her unproductive in the community.
Depression also results when victimized from personal fraud or identity theft. One example, it is not easy to regain
a damaged reputation and worst, victims cannot aware all the people who have seen or have witness the damaged. In
some cases, other people may still assume and may not be aware that it is already a poser. They may continue to interact
with that poser thinking that it is they're "friend" or "family." Posers can do things that can damage the reputation of thei r
victims like for example, saying false rumors on other people that may result to a libel case. It is also very difficult f or the
victim's part to let people believe that it is no longer him or her using his or her account that has already been hacked or
used by a poser. And with this it raises more problems on the victim's part. Another is when victims have lost a great
amount of money on investing on certain stuff but then they were just scammed, and this was done through social
networking. It not only damaged the reputation on the victim's part but it also embarrassed him or her.

Isolation
Cyber bullying and personal frauds also lead to isolation. It weakens strong ties between the family, friends and
even the people surrounding the victim because of the fear inside the victim making him or her becoming less productive
in society. Like, they don't seem to have a very active peer group. They are not doing things with peers on the weekends
or talking much to peers. They may have on line peers but not the kind that allow face to face interactions. Like many
teenagers they spend a great deal of time in their rooms away from family but don't have the other part of needing to be
with their peers. Because of suffering the consequences of being a victim of cyber bullying and personal fraud, they find it
too difficult to seek out others. They may not have any idea what is happening to them and often they feel
defective. They see others having fun that seems unattainable to them. These teens have developed a poor sense of self
worth and isolate to avoid the pain and embarrassment of the abuse. Victims also lose focus in their responsibility in the
society or community due to the depression that they are experiencing. They prefer to stay at home and not mingle with
their friends or family and with this it interferes with their interpersonal skills. Thats why the saying is quite true-- no man
is an island. Isolating ones self when a teenager should be dealing with making new friends in a new environment (high
school) may be a sign of a troubled teen. Normally, teenagers value their peer friendships more than other relationships,
even sometimes to a fault when they rebel against their parents as they choose friends over family. But when teenagers
shows hardly any interest in peer relationships then this may definitely be a cause for concern. ( Troubled Teens Info,
2009)

Invasion to Privacy
In a world where people have become so consumed and adapted to social networking on a daily basis, it is often
overlooked that a persons shared information on these sites can be used in ways to hurt or ruin their lives, and theres no
taking it back. (On Guard Online, Quick Facts, 2007)
Social Networking has become a major trend for teenagers and young adults. With these sites becoming more
popular and issues concerning cyber bullying and personal fraud rising by the day, it is important to raise the awareness
of the site's users about the consequences that can come from sharing too much personal information with others. But
how does it invade ones privacy? One example is that sites like, Facebook, myspace, Twitter, and many others have
morphed themselves into every teenagers daily routine, and not always to better his or her lifestyle. Sites like these
encourage its users to upload photos and videos and share personal information with their friends and family. The
problem with these applications is that this information is not always used in a positive manner. Teenagers dont
understand the consequences that come from posting personal information and how their posts can increase exposure to
people that sometimes have less than friendly intentions. That is why, each user needs to be careful about what he or she
posts on their site profiles, and they need to know how to properly protect their privacy and security to avoid invasion of
ones privacy. It also sets as an example of how accessible it is nowadays to trespass the personal space of a victim. It
also promotes plagiarism of personal information of the victim.
Weighing the situation, the researchers have come to analysed that despite the beneficial effects social
networking does to the society especially among teenagers, behind it are the important negative effects it does to the
society especially to the teenagers. Lack of awareness on the negative effects can harm not only the victim but also the
bully itself and the people surrounding them.

Conclusion
Are you interested in Facebook, Myspace or twitter? These are just some of the social networking hat are popular
nowadays. Social networking hit the mainstream when many of the social networking was launch from 2003 onward.
Currently, there are no reliable data regarding many people use social networking ,although marketing research indicates
that social networking are growing in popularity worldwide (Comscore,2007), but what really is social networking? These
are using social web pages, which allow an individual to construct a public profile that could because to interact with other
people online. A major component of the use of social networking is to browse other peoples profile pages. It typically
provide general biographical information, photos, statements out ones views and interests as well as detailed description
of the persons social environment through friend lists and comments or guestbook entries. In addition, some social
networking users provide more narrative information about their lives by maintaining weblogs embedded i n their profiles.
Meanwhile, some sites cater to diverse audiences, while others attract people based on their common language or shared
racial, sexual, religious, or national-based identity. The first notable social networking site was sixdegrees.com which
allowed users to create profiles, list of their friends and beginning in 1998, surf their friends list. With this more and more
social networking sites that involve social networking, came out until they became a global phenomenon. As social
networking become phenomenon in the status quo, the rise of negative social effects within our society also rises. We
would have increasing instances of cyber bullying and further cases of personal fraud that could affect not only the victims
themselves but also the perpetrators and the people surrounding them. This could also result to even more grave
problems on the victims and bullies parts. We will also see our strong ties relationships weaken to a shallower and
convenient type of affairs and conversation among teenagers due to some issues that may hinder interpersonal skills. It
could cause depression among the individuals involved may bring traumatic experiences to them. In addition, it could also
affect privacy issues and may be crucial when it already has become illegal. Furthermore, social networking has had a
huge negative impact on our psychological and social aspect and will continue to do so into the future if it would not be
prevented. It is also evident that social networking facilitates all these issues and concerns. Therefore it is undeniably true
that Facebook, Twitter, myspace, and the like do in fact cause more harm than good in our society.
Cyberbullying is similar to other types of bullying, except it takes place online and through text messages sent to cell
phones. Cyberbullies can be classmates, online acquaintances, and even anonymous users, but most often they do know
their victims.
Some examples of ways kids bully online are
Sending someone mean or threatening emails, instant messages, or text messages
Excluding someone from an instant messenger buddy list or blocking their email for no reason
Tricking someone into revealing personal or embarrassing information and sending it to others
Breaking into someone's email or instant message account to send cruel or untrue messages while posing as that
person
Creating websites to make fun of another person such as a classmate or teacher
Using websites to rate peers as prettiest, ugliest, etc. http://t.co/ge00epuwJF http://t.co/ifnroA5zta
Cyberbullying is the use of cell phones, instant messaging, e-mail, chat rooms or social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter
to harass, threaten or intimidate someone. Cyberbullying is often done by children, who have increasingly early access to these
technologies. The problem is compounded by the fact that a bully can hide behind an electronic veil, disguising his or her true identity.
This secrecy makes it difficult to trace the source and encourages bullies to behave more aggressively than they might face-to-face.
Cyberbullying can include such acts as making threats, sending provocative insults or racial or ethnic slurs, gay bashing, attempting to
infect the victim's computer with a virus, and flooding an e-mail inbox with messages. If you are a victim, you can deal with
cyberbullying to some extent by limiting computer connection time, not responding to threatening or defamatory messages, and never
opening e-mail messages from sources you do not recognize or from known sources of unwanted communications. More active
measures include blacklisting or whitelisting e-mail accounts, changing e-mail addresses, changing ISPs, changing cell phone
accounts, and attempting to trace the source. http://t.co/2O6yYx6Y http://t.co/qBpjpPnF