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Within the past decade, engagement with the internet has expanded in ways previously unimagined; internet use is virtually ubiquitous. While a great deal of research has gone into the psychological nature of this use (internet addiction, adolescent engagement, and the like), little of it has taken a psychoanalytic angle or sought to address perspectives on the human motivation to relate and the meanings made from early and contemporary relations within the context of ‘Web 2.0’. This article suggests that the arguably arcane setting of the consultation room provides a unique space in which questions about online engagement can be explored. The contemporary state of affairs with regard to social networking and Google is examined in relation to a clinical example that serves as a reference point from which to open broader questions about our culture's relationship to the internet. A relational psychoanalytic approach is utilised to theorise online relations with reference to the ‘analytic third’ and the developing concept of ‘virtual impingement’.