Nowadays it is rare to find someone who chooses not to engage with the world through a social media forum. Adding someone on Facebook or following them on Twitter has become a prevalent form of marking your association with them. HHHHours are whiled away procrastinating, 'stalking' and conversing with others on the Internet.

Social media is becoming omnipresent, thanks to the apps that make these platforms ever more accessible:  Facebook recently announced its one billionth user, meaning that now about 1 in 7 people on the planet use the social network, whilst Twitter reports over 500 million users (2012).

History has shown that staying ahead of trendsis vital to the social networking industry: fast-paced changes have seen Bebo and MySpace fade away, while Facebook’s constant updates have kept it a frontrunner. The cheeky hash-tagging trend, brevity of tweets and potential to connect with celebrities has made Twitter the current favourite.

The advent of social media has revolutionised the way we – especially our generation – contact one another and interact with the world. Growing up with the creation and development of social media platforms has made their presence an essential component of our lives. An exciting and non-exclusive way of staying in touch with others, organising events and advertising, sharing photos and memories with family – there seem to be endless positives. But, recently, the anonymity and detached nature of social media seems to have given a minority of bullies the opportunity to misuse the Internet. Bullying has taken on a vicious persona in the social media playground.

Hiding behind usernames that have no relation to actual people, trolling aimed at celebrities has become increasingly prominent. Tom Daley received numerous insulting tweets after coming fourth in the men’s synchronised 10m platform. He was accused him of letting his late father down and had his sexual orientation abusively questioned (“If there is any consolation for finishing fourth at least Daley and Waterfield can go and bum each other #teamHIV). It seems to me that an 18-year old GB poster boy under immense pressure to achieve at the London Olympicshaving lost his father to brain cancer a mere year ago, is completely undeserving of such abuse.

Similarly, Adele has been subject to cruel tweets after giving birth to her son including one from a particularly malicious user:  “Aw, Adele gave birth to a baby. Is it fat and handicapped lol? Just murder it already lol." The worst thing is that it is not just celebrities –public personalities cannot expect to avoid negative attention – who are being abused by trolling: teenager Amanda Todd was driven to suicide by cyber-bullying. Her YouTube video tells the story of the harassment she suffered. Freedom of speech is one thing but banter, jokes and offensive comments are frequently and spontaneously posted on social media sites and some clearly take things too far. The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, has indicated that new guidelines are needed to clarify when cyber bullies can be prosecuted given the growing number of complaints about abusive posts on social networking sites. In an age of technology and social media, this should be a top priority.