It's no wonder there has been a triplefold increase in defamation actions this past year.
According to the Independent newspaper, derogatory posts on Twitter and other social media - including online only news sites and texting - comes from a lack of understanding among users that they are legally responsible for what they write.
The growth of such cases in Britain from just six in 2012-2013 to 26 in 2013-2014 (a rise of 333 per cent) may also have been partly driven by high-profile incidents such as Lord McAlpine's action against Sally Bercow, wife of the Speaker of the House of Commons, over comments she made on Twitter, the Independent writes. The case was settled last October with the peer accepting 15,000 ($30,425) damages.
Among the other high-profile new media libel cases was cricketer Kevin Pietersen's action over a Specsavers advert posted on Facebook and Twitter. He accepted undisclosed damages after claiming he had been defamed by a suggestion he had tampered with his bat.
In another case, the live music company MAMA Group sued over an email which contained a flyer suggesting cuts and scars on a woman's face were the company's responsibility.
The email was sent to MPs and media organisations but the defendant claimed he was not responsible for it.
When we write in the digital sphere, we can easily forget that what we are saying is not only morally wrong but legally wrong. Tapping away at your keyboard and hitting "post" seems to be done more quickly than thinking things over first and writing something less fiery.
Sure, we may say flippant comments to our friends but when said to strangers, or at least those we only converse with in the digital world, there can be serious ramifications.
Social media increases the speed and level at which reputations can be affected.
So what is defamation? It's when you are publishing (in this case via the internet) something which is untrue and can damage a person's reputation in the eyes of other people.
The burden of proof is on the accused - you have to be able to prove in a court of law that what you have said is the truth.
And when it comes to digital footprints, once it's been published it will remain in the digital ether forever.
So be careful what you print, think before you type and understand there could be consequences to your inflammatory remarks.