Matt Duffy has a personal rule when it comes to social networking in the online world, and particularly when it comes to Facebook.

"It plays a big role," the University of Maine defenseman said. "There´s people out there looking at MySpace and things like that, watching you and trying to catch you doing things that you´re not supposed to be doing. As a team, a lot of guys have Facebook sites and set them on private. But personally I don´t have it. It´s another thing to worry about."

Duffy might be in the minority when it comes to high school and college-aged students. More than 200 million people have registered on social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or Flicker. The power of the Internet, of photo sharing, social networking and how it relates to athletes at the high school and college level, hasn´t been lost on Maine hockey captain Jeff Marshall.

"You´ve got to really be careful with those sites," said Marshall, a senior at Maine. "People see things that athletes are maybe doing, that you don´t want to see. I´m not saying we all go out there and put up nasty pictures or anything but you´ve got to be careful because there´s definitely a lot of eyes on student-athletes on the college level.

"You´ve got to be careful of those things. They´re meant to be fun but someone can really turn it against you and make it something that can actually really be a detriment."

For athletic directors and school administrators, the World Wide Web is uncharted territory. But for high school and college students, it´s a virtual playground, a source of news, a social extension and -- unknown to some -- a minefield.

Students, coaches and administrators are trying to find the best way to address issues that arise when navigating the online world.

Fifteen years ago the concern for administrators, athletic directors and coaches was drug and alcohol use and other illegal activities that may have faced high school students and student-athletes. But the advent of technology such as e-mail, instant messaging, Blackberrys, cell-phone cameras and online photo-sharing has affected school social climates.

"It´s pushed things a little faster than the system was ready for," said Dave Czesniuk, director of operations for Northeastern University´s Center for Sport in Society. "It´s accelerated issues, and the management practices haven´t been put in place to police it. The onus now is on the student-athletes to be responsible."

And when they´re not responsible, the consequences can be harsh. Several high-profile incidents at the national and local levels have brought the issue of online security to light:

n Allison Stokke, a member of the University of California women´s track and field team, became an Internet sensation during her senior year at Newport Harbor (Calif.) High when a candid picture of her tying back her ponytail during a meet had been put on a blog and was copied or linked to at least 50 more message boards and sports blogs.

n Last summer a hazing watchdog site alerted media to photos of the University of Maine softball team, photos from a "rookie party" that had been posted on the Internet by one of the softball players. The team was suspended for a week and several players received multigame suspensions.

n At Bowdoin College, online photos of a party from January of 2006 involving the women´s squash team were forwarded to school administrators, and the students faced discipline for violating the school´s alcohol policy.

n At Deering High School, school administrators received photographs that were posted on a social networking site of a party where alcohol was served to minors. It began an investigation that resulted in three assistant coaches being fired from their posts, the resignation of the head coach and a grand jury indicting the coaches and the wife of one of the coaches on charges of furnishing a place for minors to consume alcohol.

The Internet´s social networking portals and message boards and comments sections on media Web sites can make life challenging for student-athletes. They are expected to be leaders, and hence role models, on campus and have become, in a sense, the campus celebrities. That notoriety, Czesniuk said, creates a bigger risk.

"People know who we are, professors know who we are," Duffy said. "You have to think about how you present yourself, from in the classrooms to on the ice."

Providence College hockey coach Tim Army reminds players of the potential ramifications of carelessness in a medium that can be so easily accessible.

"You don´t want anything on your MySpace or your Facebook that could impact you, and you´re a high-profile person anyways because you play a college sport," said Army, a former Portland Pirates head coach. "You don´t want anything to impact the perception of you as a student-athlete. In turn, you don´t want anything to affect you when you´re looking for a job, whatever that could be. If you want to continue playing hockey, and I think a lot of employers, and I talk about NHL teams as employers, they´re going to look at things like that. Or just out in the private sector, employers are going to look at that. Don´t put something on there that could impact the impression of you."

Harnessing the power of the Internet and explaining that power isn´t something that can be easily addressed or expressed. Sports Done Right defines guidelines and principles for developing a fair, well-rounded athletic program and addresses issues such as sportsmanship, the quality of coaching, personal growth through participation and parental involvement in athletics. However, the covenant does not address technological safety.

"It´s becoming more of an issue as more students become more savvy about social networking resources," said Karen Hawkes, director of the Maine Center for Sport and Coaching and part of the project staff for Sports Done Right. "We´re a little behind on the topic and I can´t say that we have a stance, other than that we promote education and become more aware of safety concerns regarding online usage."

Last year, the Southern Maine Activities Association formed a committee to address issues regarding high school athletes and the Internet, examining everything from social networking sites to cyberbullying.

"We´re becoming more knowledgeable of what´s out there and what needs to be looked at," Gorham Athletic Director Gerry Durgin said. "Most athletic directors are cautioning student-athletes and parents about the dangers of the Internet, what kids have the ability to produce such as fake tapes and cutting and pasting pictures to other sites. But we´re still in that state, where you learn something and then there´s a whole new thing every day.

"This is a concern because this is something that can be very harmful. It´s not a thing about words, it´s a visual thing. It can be extremely compromising, and it can be damaging."

Falmouth Athletic Director Todd Livingston said the topic of online safety hasn´t been collectively addressed by Western Maine Conference administrators, and said he plans to address it at the next league meeting. While he hasn´t had to confront the issue at his school, Livingston realizes the power that technology has on a school´s society -- technology that was absent when Livingston graduated from South Portland in 1989 and during his time in college.

"Some athletes can post game footage of themselves and I suppose that can be a means of reaching out to college coaches when it comes to recruiting," Livingston said. "But we´ve all seen the negative side of things. I´m sure there are incidents at several schools where photos have been provided or the administration has been notified. It goes both ways."

When Falmouth volleyball player Rachel Stein attended a volleyball camp at the University of New Hampshire during the summer, a college coach made it a point to address issues surrounding online safety.

"The coach couldn´t stop stressing how important it was not to put yourself out there and doing inappropriate things," Stein said. "Make sure what you´re doing is appropriate and that your Facebook page is appropriate, and what you do, someone´s always looking at it."

In turn, Stein reminds her teammates about that personal responsibility to be cognizant in situations both virtual and in real life that could potentially be compromising. So does classmate Adam Lamoureux, a goalie on the boys´ soccer team.

"When you´re hanging out with friends, there will always be a camera there," Lamoureux said. "Pictures are always being taken. You may not mean to be in a shot but you´ll be in a background where people are posing. Even more, you have to make sure you´re making the correct decision wherever you go." When it comes to monitoring his Facebook page, Lamoureux explains the importance of due diligence when it comes to screening friend requests, tagged photos and comments that are left on his page. He also came to a realization.

"As it grew, I thought about it and thought about pictures and said, ´Who is really going to see this?´ Lamoureux said. "They may not just be on Facebook, they may get printed out and posted somewhere else. It may expand from that. If one person can access that picture they can put it other places you can´t control."

Staff Writer Rachel Lenzi can be reached at 791-6415 or at:

rlenzi@pressherald.com