KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Social media sites like MySpace and Facebook have been used to connect students but they're also being used to threaten or bully.

As more teens use the Internet to socialize, child taunting is becoming more prevalent in the online community.

"The thing that we're facing now is cyber-bullying," said Karen Loy, principal at Northwest Middle School. "That's where you see those text messages or it's on MySpace or Facebook," she said.

Ben Harrington is the executive director of the Mental Health Association of East Tennessee. He said this type of bullying is like none other.

"The bully doesn't have to do it face to face anymore, they can do it sort of anonymously and they can spread all sorts of stuff," Harrington said.

Mental health experts say it can be more harmful than traditional forms of bullying. That's because information posted online is hard to erase and can easily go viral.

"It can ruin a person's reputation and I think that's what's so devastating to a lot of people, they can feel like they fit and all of a sudden this stuff happens and their fit is just pulled out from underneath them," Harrington said.

In 2009, Gov. Phil Bredesen signed a bill into law that criminalizes cyber-bullying. Under the state criminal code, an offense is punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.

Cyber-bullying is a crime committed by both boys and girls. But anti-bullying expert Rodger Dinwiddie said girls are more likely to use social media sites and texting to bully each other.

"Guys tend to be more physically assertive and aggressive in their bullying whereas girls tend to be more psychologically traumatizing, if you will, and use more relational forms of aggression," Dinwiddie said.

Online bullying is harder to detect because it is done off campus but, according to Dinwiddie, parents can still prevent it.

"The critical issue is doing something in the home life to guard against it, or create safeguards so kids have boundaries and knowledge about what's appropriate," he said.

School officials said they encourage parents to monitor their children's interactions online to make sure they're not sending or receiving taunting messages.