As reported in October, social media can come into a court room as evidence in a child custody case, however, chats and e-mails to prove a spouse cheated are being shown in divorce court more and more.

As one attorney noted, it used to be hard to prove someone cheated in court, but now with e-mails and social media online chats, divorce lawyers can just bring in the printouts as proof.

In a report titled, "The internet busted up my marriage: A WAFF 48 News special report," one now divorced woman told of how she accidently stumbled across her then-husbands affair. One day the woman had simply gone onto the couple's computer to check Facebook. The husband must have forgotten to log out, because the woman quickly noticed she was surfing in his account, finding letters in his inbox between him and an ex-girlfriend from high school.

In this case, the woman chose to bite her tongue and not say anything. Instead, she continued on collecting e-mails and chats, which she eventually used against him in court, a tactic divorce attorneys are saying is becoming crucial when establishing what really happened.

And, in the case of e-mails and chats, people tend to be a little more open with his and her writings thinking the words will only ever be seen by the intended recipient.

"People will put anything on social media. They are simply cutting their own legs out from under them in many cases. The more they talk the better," one divorce attorney said.

Social media sites also increase the odds of cheating as people can easily find past flings online, a recent NPR report stated. All it takes is for a song to come on the radio, or really anything to remind a person of an ex, and in minutes he or she can be searching for an ex-girlfriend or boyfriend on MySpace and Facebook, and sending a quick hello message in minutes.

Bob Rosenwein, a sociology professor at Lehigh University also weighed in on the topic of social media communication saying that when people non-verbally communicate online, it takes about a week for the two to start developing feelings for each other. When it comes to face-to-face talking, these same feelings take two to three weeks. This coupled with the inhibition and lack of second guessing to send a message, increases the odds of cheating.

Source: WTVM, "The internet busted up my marriage: A WAFF 48 News special report," Elizabeth Gentle, 5 Nov 2010