Location tracking via social networking sites

Lisa Thomas, Pam Briggs, Linda Little

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The use of social media has steadily grown in recent years, and now more than ever, people are logging on to websites like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and Google Latitude with the aim of broadcasting their location information. The ability to 'check in' has enabled social network site users to broadcast detailed information about their whereabouts and also what they are doing there. This is encouraged by the implementation of location-based services (LBS) -technology which uses information about the geographical position of a mobile device. To date, little academic research has focused on perceptions of, or intentions to use these systems. This paper describes a study which utilised a psychological framework originally designed to predict intentions to use LBS, which was modified to assess intentions to use LBS within a social networking site (SNS) context. Participants completed an online survey, assessing their beliefs surrounding, and intentions to use, LBS via SNS. We find that trust of the social network provider as well as disclosure preferences influence intentions to use SNS with friends, family, and colleagues. This work highlights an important area of psychological research that has not previously been considered, and provides a theoretical foundation from which further work could explore location-tracking aspects of SNS.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationWebSci '13
Subtitle of host publicationProceedings of the 5th Annual ACM Web Science Conference
Place of PublicationNew York
PublisherACM
Pages405-412
Number of pages8
ISBN (Print)9781450318891
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2013
Event3rd Annual ACM Web Science Conference, WebSci 2013 - Paris, France
Duration: 2 May 20134 May 2013

Publication series

NameWebSci '13: Proceedings of the 5th Annual ACM Web Science Conference
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery

Conference

Conference3rd Annual ACM Web Science Conference, WebSci 2013
Country/TerritoryFrance
CityParis
Period2/05/134/05/13

Keywords

  • Disclosure
  • Intention
  • Location-based services
  • Location-tracking
  • Social networking
  • Trust

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