As a new internet craze known as ‘planking’ begins to spread through a number of social networks, one online ‘plankster’ has taken it one step too far, as reported by BBC Magazine online. A 20 year old man in Australia was attempting to lie down across a balcony railing while his friend took a photo, but he lost his balance and fell to his death.

The concept of planking is simple: people attempt to find the strangest public places to lie face down, with their hands by their side and their toes pointing to the ground, while a friend takes a photo that is uploaded to various social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Two competing groups – one in Somerset in 2000 that called it the “lying down game” and another in Australia three years ago – claim to have invented the craze, and have rival online groups with an astonishing number of followers (over 100,000 each!).

Having gone totally viral, to the point that Australian rugby league player David ‘Wolfman’ Williams often celebrates scoring a try by planking, the death of this man has alerted police and MPs worldwide and highlights the extreme measures that some individuals will go to in order to create the perfect comical shot.

But Neil Lanxon, the editor of future technology news site Wired.co.uk, suggests the idea is to lie down in positions where it is ridiculous, such as dance floors or public bins (as it started), and not dangerous positions. And with viral phenomena, the term ‘all publicity is good publicity’ could never be more accurate, with Lanxon claiming that this accidental death will only fuel the spread of interest in this craze.

Fortunately, it hasn’t yet hit the 247Moneybox.com offices … to our knowledge …