Are Your Kids Being Tracked?


Social Networking Gets Really Personal

Social networks connect kids online. But a new technology takes connecting a step further -- to face-to-face meet-ups. New programs called location-sharing use geographic information from your smart phone to connect people to specific places, as well as to each other. You may have heard of some of the most popular ones: Loopt, foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook Places. Most of these programs are designed for smart phones, but they can also be accessed on the Web. Once you join, you can post your actual physical location.

And that's what makes location sharing a no-go for kids and teens. These programs bring up two big issues: safety and privacy. Since they let you post your location, they can expose your kid's whereabouts to anyone they "friend" -- or, in some cases, to any other user of the program. Also, advertisers are already using social mapping to target users with ads and incentives to visit their businesses (most of which are bars and restaurants).

Foursquare was one of the first entries into the location-sharing game. Here's how it works: When you sign up, you import contacts from other programs like Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail. Using foursquare's mobile website or its smartphone app, you "check in" -- send a message saying where you are and what you're doing -- and the program alerts your friends to tell them where they can find you. (Foursquare does allows you to hide your location, so you can check in without revealing it.) Foursquare uses a gaming motif, which makes it especially appealing for kids.

Facebook Places is available on iPhones or accessible through the company's touch.facebook.com site. It gives you the option of sharing your location with your Facebook friends and checking specific locations to see if your friends are there. For users under 17, Places is an "opt in" feature, meaning you have to enable it to use it. But make sure you check your kid's privacy settings anyway.

Gowalla works very much the same way as foursquare, with a gaming aspect that rewards people for visiting certain places and doing interesting things. Unlike foursquare's more finely customizable privacy settings, Gowalla's privacy settings are either on or off -- allowing people to view you or not. But Gowalla retains certain features that are publicly available even if you've checked "off." For example, if you recommend something, your recommendation appears under your user name.

Another popular program in this category, Loopt, is currently only available as a downloadable app with phones using GPS. It's also geared more for singles looking for relationships -- the personal profile asks you to check boxes indicating your relationship status and what type of relationship you're looking for. Like Facebook, Loopt gives its users the ability to send messages to friends, and while its ability to connect people face-to-face is highly targeted, it does offer fairly customizable privacy settings, including the ability to hide your location and block people.

What Parents Need to Know

1. These programs aren't for your kids. Ignore the "ratings" you may see online. The apps must be downloaded, and even though they're free, you'll get a receipt for it, so you'll know whether it's been installed. Either way, check your child's phone for these apps. You need to know what they're doing.

2. If you think it's OK for your kid to use one of these apps, then you must make sure that their privacy settings are set to the strictest options (as in, designated "friends only). That said, there are no guarantees that your child will be 100% protected from strangers or unwanted advertisers.

3. Since the programs allow users to post directly to Facebook or Twitter from any location, questions of safety and responsible behavior must be addressed. You don't want someone telling everyone about a party at someone else's house.

4. Finally, don't our kids have enough ads in their lives? These programs have the ability to send highly targeted ads -- to your kids' favorite store at the mall, for example. Constant advertising has a tendency to give people the "gimmes." Reinforce the fact that they can use the word "no."


Get more parenting advice on Privacy, Cyberbullying, and more from Common Sense Media

Apps 101: What to Know Before You Download
Cheating Goes Hi-Tech
Responsible Text Messaging for Kids