WE can all learn something from the mess that Anthony Weiner got himself into recently.

Once they’re published online, the internet never forgets your mistakes.

We’ve all had that ‘I shouldn’t have done that’ moment, just seconds after sending an angry email or posting something we shouldn’t on Facebook.

Former US Congressman Anthony Weiner learned that the hard way after he accidentally posted a lewd picture of himself to his official Twitter account.

At first he claimed his account had been hacked, but was later forced to admit that the pictures were his and he’d posted them by accident.

After the admission, he had no choice but to resign from his job in Congress.

Weiner’s disastrous mistake highlights a common problem for frequent internet users – anything you do online might come back to haunt you. This is something today’s Facebook- addicted teenagers need to consider before they apply to university or go in search of jobs.

Everything they’ve done, said and posted on the internet could potentially be found by people they need to impress in years to come.

It might be a good idea to have an internet alter-ego, an identity that only your close friends know and that cannot be linked back to your name. But if you do decide to take on two (or more) online identities, don’t do what Weiner did. Never, ever get them mixed up.