FIRST it was planking, then the Harlem shake and after that it was BitStrips.

But now our Facebook feeds are being filled with a craze of a different kind - neknominating.

If you're lucky enough to have avoided the madness so far, you might be wondering what neknominating entails.

The trend involves participants filming themselves downing booze then nominating someone else to continue the game, matching or increasing the amount of alcohol consumed, filming themselves while doing it and then nominating more people to take part.

And while it may seem like a bit of harmless fun, just like planking, this game has already turned deadly with two young Irish men having died taking part.

The neknominate craze is thought to have originated in Perth but social media has allowed it to go global with a quick YouTube search resulting in videos from all over the world including places such as South Africa, Wales, Ireland and, of course, Australia.

Bridges Drug and Alcohol Service team leader Marie Walshe said any game which involved the rapid consumption of alcohol was a dangerous thing.

"It is a concern - very much so," Ms Walshe said.

"There's a lot of risks involved."

Some Neknominations involve participants skolling entire bottles of vodka and another showed a man throwing back a pint of sambuca.

"Alcohol is a depressive drug and it reduces the heart rate and central nervous system," Ms Walshe said.

"I'm from Canberra and usually once a year there, a young person will die from skolling alcohol.

"It's a huge problem especially for the really young ones who aren't used to alcohol and they don't have a tolerance to it."

Ms Walshe said there was a range of problems associated with binge drinking, especially as shown in Neknominations.

"It's very risky," she said.

"I would definitely discourage anyone from doing it."

So what do you do if you find yourself being nominated for one of these games?

Take a leaf out of South Africa's Brent Lindeque's book, who, after being nominated to down a bottle of beer, turned his nomination into a video about helping those in need before nominating others to do the same.