YOU may have heard about the mum whose poo went viral on Facebook.

She sent her 13-year-old daughter a bedtime text message saying sleep tight, don't stay on the phone all night, switch the light out and don't forget to say your prayers.

The message was littered with little drawings of such things as a phone and a light bulb as is the way with this method of communication for the verbally challenged.

It was the last sentence which made the lady famous on Facebook. It contained four illustrations: a small heap of brown stuff, a piece of jewellery, a slice of watermelon and a little yellow face exhibiting signs of severe strain. The sentence translates in full as: "I'm going for a poo now. Hope I don't get a sore ring. I've eaten too much melon."

So what does a teenager do when she gets an embarrassing text message from mum? First she replies: "OMG!!!!!!" Then she puts the message on Facebook for the world to see. By the time mum wakes up the next morning it has been "liked" by 25,000 people.

I find myself asking questions. Doesn't the little brown drawing actually look more like a Walnut Whip? How can a slice or two of melon have dire lavatorial consequences? Did Sir Tim Berners-Lee go to the bother of inventing the internet just for people to send banal messages?

These social-networking sites are all about narcissism. But not in a totally bad way. I rarely post any contributions but it is nice to keep abreast of the progress of friends, former workmates and family (especially of the extended variety who never phone because they are too busy online).

But mostly I skip through the worthy, heart-warming, social conscience stuff in search of jokes, rants, tirades and idiocy. Facebook is the very place for poo.