arnessing the full potential of them. It was difficult to keep track of the relationships of one's first-degree contacts, while gathering information on one's network connections was a more time-consuming and cumbersome process. As former marketing director of Apple, Steve Chazin, maintains, OSNs have changed our lives for the better in this regard, "Social networking tools have made it nearly effortless for me to keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues. I can know what's on their minds, who else they know, and even what they are doing at this very moment" (Dubner, 2006, p. 3). Today's online social networking sites are locations where users can create a profile and develop a personal network that connects him or her to others.
The growth in use of OSNs like Facebook, MySpace and Second Life has been dramatic over the past few years. According to Lenhart and Madden (2007), more than half (55%) of online teens use social networks while over the past five years "such sites have rocketed from a nice activity
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