Social networking online - Good or bad?

We were all at college / high school levels when we were introduced to a gadget (now, yes...but then it was an apparatus) which was called a computer, which, we were told, would simplify a lot of things, which used something called software to run tasks, and also something called firmware , which used your inputs to tell the software to run the task programmed to produce an output (sounds like the house that Jack built). We were lucky to escape college with a small dose of this, but this spectre continued to haunt us through our everyday lives.....Nowadays the computer and software have migrated from the hallowed domains of research & development and education right into our drawing rooms, bedrooms, and with the advent of the smartphones, become an extended part of oneself.
This harangue is by way of introducing the subject......we used to go out to meet friends, relatives, we used to gather round, make new friends....socializing used to mean meeting people face to face....Now with all these gadgets around, one simply "logs on" , "chats" with partners, "pokes" his/her friends, "likes" someone's comments, and, my word, this goes on for hours at a stretch. Mind you, I'm not complaining....far from it, I do "log on " to Facebook, "make" friends, "invite"s new friends...and with the kind of connectivity that Internet gives you, the world has indeed become a smaller, and a very likeable, place.
But....lekin (a very interesting anecdote on this word, however, you have to read my friend's blog, this is a complete aside), like all things, there is, shall we say, a dark or grey side to this. How secure, how safe, how clean is this whole new world? Any amount of parenting, schooling, advising, haranguing....falls flat when you face the teens......has been the case then, and is so now, and will always be. Such being the case, how should one look at these sites? Children are under pressure from their peers to have Facebook accounts......to understand what it means to be viewing these social networking sites (lots of good and bad things float around), I guess the elders will have to be savvy enough to understand, sift, weigh and school!!!
Welcome your comments, one and all....