Young people are flocking to join up. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

Young people are flocking to join up. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

The internet can be used for many things, from harmless messages to friends and sharing photos to the more harmful - hurting others, and even ourselves.

One British teen found this out last year when he posted a video of himself driving at excessive speeds.

The 19-year-old taped himself as he drove at 225km/h down a Scottish highway, then posted the video on the YouTube website.

He was charged by the police as a result.

New Zealanders also pushed the limits in internet use - one teenager was allegedly involved in a multimillion-dollar cyber-crime ring.

The 18-year-old man, known online as "Akill", allegedly played a leading role in cyber-crime that resulted in economic loss estimated at $26 million. Police are still investigating.

But the social networking sites were the focus of interest for many New Zealanders last year.

Facebook, Bebo and MySpace almost became better than leaving the house.

Instead of going out to meet friends, people were sending messages, sending drinks and even giving each other presents on the popular sites.

In a report conducted by Hitwise, a company that studies people's interaction on the internet, Bebo was the most popular site - ranking No 4 of the websites visited by New Zealanders.

It had 2.04 per cent of the market share and Facebook - coming in at No 7 - had 1.43 per cent.

But it was not just young people joining the sites, the police joined up too. Blenheim officers set up their own profile on Bebo to reach out to the community.

Blenheim police site administrator Constable Dan Mattison told the Marlborough Express it was an avenue for people to pass on information anonymously.

Police said they were using technology to create another way for the community to contact them.

"We expect all of the community to use it, young and old, good and bad, visitors and local," police wrote.

"Don't be scared to lay it out, you won't offend us, but be prepared for a bit of feedback."

Mr Mattison said if the site was successful, he might look at creating profiles on other networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.