Social networking websites, particularly those popular with children and young people, are frequently on the receiving end of criticism. When a Lincolnshire schoolgirl ran away to France with a 49-year-old man in January, reports soon began to circulate that they had met on Facebook and MSN messenger.

In February, leading neuroscientist Baroness Greenfield warned that sites such as Facebook, Bebo and Twitter were creating a generation of self-centred children, who lacked the ability to concentrate and communicate. In the same month, psychologist Dr Aric Sigman published a paper that claimed the current social networking trend could have a negative impact on children's physiological, emotional and social development.

But online networking isn't necessarily "bad", says children's charity the NSPCC. Safe social networking sites can be a positive experience for children, and can even be used as a learning tool in the classroom.

Click here to read the rest of this report from the Guardian 21/4/09