New breed of social sites offer less privacy

While many Internet users are fretting about preserving their online privacy in the age of social networking, a new breed of digital natives is actively stripping away the last vestiges of anonymity.

They are broadcasting their thoughts, plans and even their locations and purchases to the web, using new services that post intimate personal information in real time. What began with status updates on Facebook and Twitter has evolved into services such as Blippy, a website which automatically publishes everything a user buys with a credit card to a short, Twitter-like feed for all to see. Launched in December, Blippy has gathered more than 10,000 users who share information on about $250,000 worth of purchases a day.