It used to be that statuse messages on social networks were more or less original content, save for the silly song quotes, movie quotes or other quotes Facebookers liked to put in them.

But lately, chain letters have been invading statuses.

If you've been on Facebook, Twitter or any social network that has become very popular, and/or had items from social networks showing up in searches and alerts, chances are you have seen status messages that weren't actually written by your friends, but were cut and pastes of viral quotes spreading around like a bad smell.

In mid to late 2009 there were two offendors within several weeks of each other.

the 2009 democrat Health Care status chain. the Memories/Experiment chain

The panic status chain over the privacy and search indexing thing Don't pass it on in a Facebook status or otherwise. Adjust your privacy settings instead.

Bra Color Breast Cancer Facebook Status Chain Letter

Farmville fee status hoax