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
geolocation
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 searching
Even search is getting social. People have always polled their friends for recommendations. Then there were Web sites that aggregated members' reviews (Amazon for books, TripAdvisor for hotels, Yelp for restaurants). But more and more the social Web is bringing search and review right to our own social circles, the New York Times reports. It gives three examples right off the bat: Amazon now … [Read more...] about Social searching
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
Facebook adds ‘Places’: Cellphone location service
I'm sure you've heard about Foursquare, a game and geolocation app that lets people "check in" to their favorite spots virtually when they're walking in physically. Well, Facebook now has a geolocation app like that called "Places," so users can use their cellphones to let their FB friends know where they are (only in the US at this point). In addition to checking in, FB users can "see who else … [Read more...] about Facebook adds ‘Places’: Cellphone location service