online communication

Appearing at the Crunchie awards in San Francisco a founder of the popular social networking site Facebook Mark Zuckerberg noted that with the rise of social media online people no longer have an expectation of privacy. He said that privacy was no longer a "social norm".

"People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people," he said. "That social norm is just something that has evolved over time."

The mobile phone is increasingly being used for a wide variety of applications - from games, to Internet browsing, checking email and personal banking. According to some estimates, about 60 per cent of all mobile phone users in Singapore do just that. But some mobile phone users are finding it hard to track their data usage - with many suffering from bill shock when their phone bills are significantly higher than expected.

Internet becomes more and more popular among the young people and so are social networks and more than ever before. eMarketer estimates that in 2009, 15.5 million US Internet users ages 12 to 17, or 75% of all online teens, will use social networks. In 2013 this number will increase to 17.9 million, or 79%.