MANILA, Philippines — Bullying used to be a face-to-face affair, when you were confronted in the hallways and playgrounds of your school and harassed for whatever it was that caught your bully's attention in the first place.

But ever since the advent of social networking sites, bullying has taken a much more insidious turn, as the anonymity that the internet provides has given what used to be playground taunts a much more malicious and sometimes violent bent.

And while some come out of it relatively unscathed, there are those who have not been as lucky in dealing with the viciousness of the internet mob. Students and Campuses Bulletin traces the trail that cyberbullying has left behind in its wake. (Ronald S. Lim)

OCTOBER 7 , 2003 - Thirteen year-old Ryan Patrick Halligan hangs himself with his sister's bathrobe's tie. Ryan had previously been bullied by a classmate who spread a rumor that he was gay. During his summer break, the bullying continued online, where he was constantly taunted by schoolmates over AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) and other instant messaging sites. A female classmate even pretended to be his friend online, only to publicly embarrass him in school by calling him a "loser". He found out she only pretended to like him in order to retrieve personal information about him. Their private exchanges were copied and pasted into other IMs among his schoolmates to embarrass and humiliate him.

OCTOBER 17, 2006 - Fourteen year-old Megan Taylor Meier kills herself by hanging, three weeks before her 14th birthday. Megan was bullied over social networking site Myspace, where a certain "Josh Evans" pretended to like her. "Evans" was in fact a creation of Lori Drew, the mother of a former friend of Megan, and the account was maintained by Drew, her daughter, and Ashley Grills, an employee of Drew's. Drew had been using the account to get information about Megan and later humiliate her, in retribution for her allegedly spreading gossip about Drew's daughter. The last message sent by "Josh Evans" to Megan was "You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a bad rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you." Megan's reply was "You’re the kind of boy a girl would kill herself over."

MARCH 2007 - The Advertising Council in the United States, in partnership with the National Crime Prevention Council, U.S. Department of Justice, and Crime Prevention Coalition of America, joined to announce the launch of a new public service advertising campaign designed to educate pre-teens and teens about how they can play a role in ending cyberbullying.

JUNE 2, 2008 – Parents, teens, teachers, and Internet executives came together at Wired Safety's International Stop Cyberbullying Conference, a twoday gathering in White Plains, New York and New York City. Executives from Facebook, Verizon, MySpace, Microsoft, and many others talked with hundreds about how to better protect themselves, personal reputations, kids and businesses online from harassment.

APRIL 2010 - Internet furor erupts over "Jejemons", defined as “individuals with low IQs who spread around their idiocy on the web by tYpFing LyK diZS jejejeje.” A Facebook group called Gotta Kill ‘Em All, Jejemon is formed, and garnered more than 88,000 members. The messages on the group's Facebook Wall range from the irritated to the seemingly violent, causing celebrities such as musician Rico Blanco, actress Alessandra de Rossi, and broadcast journalist Ces Drilon to call for calm over the social networking site Twitter.

MAY 2010 - A group dubbed "Ampalaya Anonymous" grabs the showbusiness headlines due to reports that its members -- Angel Locsin, Cristine Reyes, Maxene Magalona, Glaiza de Castro, Bianca King, Bubbles Paraiso and Rich Asuncion -- have been bullying fellow actress Pauleen Luna over Twitter.

JULY 2010 - A Youtube video by Jessica Leonhardt aka "Jessie Slaughter" becomes a viral hit. In it, she responds to countless members of the group Anonymous, who had uncovered her personal information after she had posted several inappropriate images and videos of herself via her MySpace, You- Tube and other social networking profiles. Leonhardt's father delivered a highly exploitable speech that quickly became adapted into catchphrases and image macros including “You done goofed,” “backtraced,” “cyberpolice,” and “consequences will never be the same.” Leondhart now claims she is in foster care after going through several mental institutions.

SEPTEMBER 22, 2010 - Eighteenyear- old Rutgers students Tyler Clementi jumps from the George Washington Bridge after roommate Dharum Ravi had video streamed Clementi kissing another man over the Internet without Clementi's knowledge, and this encounter was viewed briefly by Ravi and a fellow hallmate, Molly Wei. Ravi has been charged with invasion of privacy and bias intimidation, while Wei is not being charged, in exchange for testifying against Ravi.