In the next few weeks, Facebook becomes a little less local in one way. It's eliminating the Deals feature, Facebook's answer to the popular Groupon deal-of-the-day-at-a-retailer-near-you service. "The program is being dropped after four months of testing in select markets in Texas, California and Georgia," the Washington Post reports. This development probably has something to do with Facebook … [Read more...] about Facebook deleting Deals, adding Messenger
location-based services
Oz’s tips on location-sharing for teens
Using cellphones for finding out when friends are nearby, for special shopping or dining deals, for discounts from spots where you check in a lot, and for knowing family members are safe and where they're supposed to be is a great thing. And, like all digital technology, it can have its misuses, such as giving out one's location to people for whom, and for whatever reason, that information is not … [Read more...] about Oz’s tips on location-sharing for teens
4% of US online adults use location-sharing
Geolocation apps and services like Foursquare, loopt, Gowalla, and Facebook's Places are an online-safety frontier where consumer (much less kid) usage is the great unknown. Thankfully, the Pew Internet & American Life Project has just released some research on it – on adult usage, anyway (hopefully youth data coming soon). Pew found that 4% of adult US Internet users use geolocation services … [Read more...] about 4% of US online adults use location-sharing
Social location-sharing
More and more we're hearing about location-based socializing in the news – for example, Loopt and Latitude for keeping track of friends in a geographical sort of way, Facebook's new Places, the more game-like Foursquare, and Glympse for tracking kids for specific periods of time (like between 9pm and "curfew," up to 4 hours max). Well, in case you'd like a little primer on these location-based … [Read more...] about Social location-sharing