Some watchers contacted the website to notify police, but by the time officers entered Abraham Biggs' home - a scene also captured on the Internet - it was too late.

Biggs, 19, lay dead on his bed in his father's Florida house last Wednesday, the camera still running 12 hours after he announced his intention to kill himself online.

It was unclear how many people watched it unfold.

His family was infuriated that no one acted sooner to save him, neither the viewers nor the website that hosted the live video, Justin.tv.

An autopsy concluded Biggs died from a combination of opiates and anti-depressants, which his family said was prescribed for his bipolar disorder.

Some members of his virtual audience said they did not take him seriously because he had threatened suicide on the site before.

As police entered the room, the audience's reaction was filled with Internet shorthand, from 'OMG' (Oh, my God) to 'LOL' ('laughing out loud') and 'hahahah'.

Biggs was not the first person to commit suicide with a webcam rolling. A county official said there was a case in which a Florida man shot himself in the head in front of an online audience.

But the drawn-out drama of this case - and the reaction of viewers - was seen as an extreme example of young people's penchant for sharing intimate details about themselves over the Internet.

An assistant professor of popular culture in Ohio said: 'For today's generation it might seem, 'What's the point of doing it if everyone isn't going to see it?'.'

AP, AFP