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Revisiting FB’s Places (& kids’ use of it)

October 7, 2010 By Anne 2 Comments

A bit more on Facebook’s location-sharing product, Places (here’s my last post on it ). I don’t think Places is going to be all that popular with people under 16 (non-drivers), except maybe urban dwellers with easy access to public transport. But I could turn out to be wrong and would appreciate hearing from you if you’re finding that kids at your house or school are using it a lot (pls email anne[at]netfamilynew.org). I don’t think social mapping or geolocation is inherently dangerous, but if kids under 16 are using it, I hope parents know about it and are talking with them about how they’re using Places and other social location-sharing tools. An important point made in this long piece in the Minneapolis Star Tribune is about the difference between a more single-purpose app like Foursquare Places and location-sharing in tandem with all the information available on a general-purpose social site like Facebook – IF that information’s is very public. And there’s the rub. The Star Tribune talked to one high school student who said she “didn’t touch her settings until her dad, concerned for her safety, sat down with her to go over the potential risks. She told the reporter her first reaction was that Places was “cool” – she didn’t think about the settings. That’s it right there, parents. So much of the solution is mindful use – and that sometimes needs encouragement from us. Facebook provides lots of safety settings and info for teens and parents – including a default setting that keeps teens from announcing their location to anybody not on their friends list – so location-sharing will probably be just fine for kids who use it mindfully and never hurtfully. For any parent who disagrees or just doesn’t what the kids to “go there,” the Star Tribune has an elegantly concise sidebar about how to disable Places. [For another parent’s good advice on teens’ online privacy in general, see this at TheOnlineMom.com.]

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Filed Under: mobile, Social Media, social networking Tagged With: Facebook Places, geolocation services, GPS on cellphones, location-sharing

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  1. 4% of US online adults use location-sharing | NetFamilyNews.org says:
    November 11, 2010 at 6:55 pm

    […] also "Revisiting FB’s Places (& kids’ use of it)" and "Social location-sharing."] // Share| Permalink Post a comment — Trackback URI RSS […]

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  2. Tweets that mention Revisiting FB’s Places (& kids’ use of it) | NetFamilyNews.org -- Topsy.com says:
    October 7, 2010 at 10:24 pm

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by annecollier, Jesse Miller, Kukuh Han, Tim Woda, The KidSafe Team and others. The KidSafe Team said: Revisiting FB’s Places (& kids’ use of it): A bit more on Facebook’s location-sharing product, Places (here’s my l… http://bit.ly/duES39 […]

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Anne Collier


Bio and my...
2016 TEDx Talk on
the heart of digital citizenship

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IMPORTANT RESOURCES

Our (DIGITAL) PARENTING BASICS: Safety + Social
NAMLE, the National Association for Media Literacy Education
CASEL.org & the 5 core social-emotional competencies of SEL
Center for Democracy & Technology
Center for Innovative Public Health Research
Childnet International
Committee for Children
Congressional Internet Caucus Academy
ConnectSafely.org
Control Shift: a pivotal book for Internet safety
Crimes Against Children Research Center
Crisis Textline
Cyber Civil Rights Initiative's Revenge Porn Crisis Line
Cyberwise.org
danah boyd's blog and book about networked youth
Disconnected, Carrie James's book on digital ethics
FOSI.org's Good Digital Parenting
The research of Global Kids Online
The Good Project at Harvard's School of Education
If you watch nothing else: "Parenting in a Digital Age" TED Talk by Prof. Sonia Livingstone
The International Bullying Prevention Association
Let Grow Foundation
Making Caring Common
Raising Digital Natives, author Devorah Heitner's site
Renee Hobbs at the Media Education Lab
MediaSmarts.ca
The New Media Literacies
Report of the Aspen Task Force on Learning & the Internet and our guide to Creating Trusted Learning Environments
The Ruler Approach to social-emotional learning (Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence)
Sources of Strength
"Young & Online: Perspectives on life in a digital age" from young people in 26 countries (via UNICEF)
"Youth Safety on a Living Internet": 2010 report of the Online Safety & Technology Working Group (and my post about it)

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