SOCIAL networking sites such as Facebook are a relatively new phenomenon. Nothing remotely resembling them existed before the internet began to revolutionise the way in which humanity communicates.

Because social networking is so new, those who use the sites – and those who administer them – are still feeling their way forward as far as the bounds of acceptable content and conduct are concerned. We should not, therefore, be too surprised that young drivers in Jersey and Guernsey have been posting pictures and comments about high-speed car crashes and other escapades in which they have been involved.

There is, however, a huge gap between being unsurprised by this use of the internet and finding it remotely acceptable. We cannot be too optimistic about young drivers so clearly deficient in the common-sense department censoring themselves, but it is legitimate to ask why networking sites permit this sort of content.

The argument may be advanced that what is seen as reprehensible by the older generation is seen as normal enough by the younger generation, but in the case of the sheer idiocy of the crash material this is difficult to sustain.

Moreover, the scale of the recent outrage surrounding Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand and their hurtful, juvenile and insensitive phone messages to Andrew Sachs strongly suggests that traditional values and notions of what society will tolerate are anything but dead.

Fortunately, irrespective of any action taken by Facebook or its users, there is a very good reason why publishing crash pictures and boastful accounts of dangerous driving on the web is likely to be a short-lived abuse of internet networking.

Has it not occurred to the boy racers that their postings amount not only to self-glorification but also to self-incrimination? The pictures of wrecked cars alone provide a wealth of evidence that should allow the police to put names to people offering accounts of their illegal high-speed antics.

There have already been prosecutions in the UK based on leads given by Facebook and YouTube. It will probably not be too long before similar cases arise here and in Guernsey.