It pains me to admit it, but in the world of internet social networking I am very much a late bloomer.

It pains me to admit it, but in the world of internet social networking I am very much a late bloomer.

To my shame, I was using Myspace long after it was age-appropriate and only set up a Facebook page last year.

Now, I have around 180 virtual "friends" and, despite railing against the death of the letter, I accept networking in cyberspace has its advantages.

Facebook takes the effort out of real-life friendship maintenance, even reminding you of "friends'" birthdays.

There are three main social networking sites: Bebo, Facebook and Myspace, where members can set up a webpage all about themselves.

Despite the three sites having much the same outcome, Bebo is the domain of teenagers, Myspace has a heavy focus on music and Facebook has cornered the market for young professionals.

Privacy has long been a thorny issue with networking sites. Bebo and Myspace have been accused of allowing young users to be targeted by adults posing as teenagers, while Facebook has done for many a careless employee caught posting bitter comments about their boss.

Myspace and Bebo take an all-or-nothing approach to privacy, with users able to block their entire page to strangers. Facebook had scattered its privacy settings to such an extent that finding them was near-impossible.

Last week the site was criticised for changing its privacy settings to allow users to share more information.

The company said the current system, under which users can control individual features of their pages, is no longer appropriate. Now - and Lady Sawers can breathe a sigh of relief - Facebook is to phase out regional networks.

Network groups such as "London" or "Manchester", which proved the Lady's downfall, are being dropped as they disclose information to people with whom the user may not want to share.

Under the new system, users will be able to decide the privacy settings for every piece of content they publish on their page, whether it is a photo or simply a comment.

And as Lady Sawers's experience shows, the internet may create a sense of global intimacy, but there are some things that should remain sacred.