In Totally Wired, I share an anecdote of a mom who saw that her teen daughter had posted a Corona ad on her MySpace page. The mom talked to her daughter about who might see that ad (like the parents of the kids she would be in charge of as a camp counselor) as a way to make the point that her MySpace is public. Now that loads of teens have moved over to Facebook and are under the impression that it's "more private," (see my recent post on this), they love sending each other virtual beers. I'm sure there will be virtual pot leaves soon if there aren't already.

My guess is that most teens sending and receiving virtual beers are probably drinking real ones at parties or at bars using fake i.d.s. If not, they think it's a way to make them seem cooler to people who are. I don't think anyone is going to not be hired for having virtual beer on their Facebook profile, but like anything you put up, it does say something about you. Separate from the conversations about drugs and alcohol you should be having with teens, I think it's worth talking to them to make sure they understand Facebook's privacy loopholes and are aware of what they are saying about themselves when they decide to give or receive virtual beer or post images of alcohol or pot on MySpace.

Update: Check out the latest Cyberfamilias column in the New York Times (reg. required) where "creepy" mom discovers teens also like to send virtual sex toys to each other.