Social Networking is a new world of communication available to any person with

     access to a computer and the internet.  There are various social networking sites

     available to any body who seeks them out.  These sites offer the ability to meet people

     that you may never meet under our traditional circumstances.  Prior to these sites, a

     person seeking other relationships whether personal or professional were limited to the

     number of people they could physically meet.  If a person desired to reach out to

     another person outside of their normal exposure, they had to pen-pal across the world

     or maybe enter a newspaper add in the personals.  Today, we have the social

     networking sites.  It has opened up the entire world at our finger tips. 

              Accepting that social networking can be a benefit to enhance our communication

     capabilities, we must remain aware of the potential disadvantages.  Parents across the

     world share their concerns regarding their children access to virtual relationships.  We

     all read in the papers or hear on the news that predators use these sites to misrepresent

     themselves and deceive young children. Our legal system is attempting to catch up with

     this new technology and formulate appropriate laws to restrict and govern these sites. 

     Until then, students across the nation will reach out to each other, professionals will network

     with each other, parents will monitor their children’s access and our legal system will have

     think in untraditional ways to protect the usage of this new phenomenon.