‘Why would you want to know?’: The reluctant use of location sharing via check-ins on Facebook among Danish youth

TY - JOUR

T1 - ‘Why would you want to know?’

T2 - The reluctant use of location sharing via check-ins on Facebook among Danish youth

AU - Bertel, Troels Fibæk

PY - 2016/4/1

Y1 - 2016/4/1

N2 - With the widespread adoption of smartphones, mobile users today have an increasing number of ways to communicate about their location; the practice of ‘checking in’, thereby broadcasting one’s location to one’s network of friends on Facebook, is one such way. Previous research has indicated that the social sharing of location information in mobile social media may be associated with significant consequences, for instance, in the areas of coordination, self-presentation, network presence and social capital. An interview study conducted with 31 ‘ordinary’ young Danish smartphone and Facebook users, however, indicates that this specific use of location sharing, despite being well-known and despite the potential of the technology indicated by previous research, has come to play a relatively minor role in their everyday lives. Drawing on the domestication approach, this article examines the meaning making associated with the use and particularly the reluctance towards use of the technology and discusses the discrepancy between the existing literature and limited use found in the present study.

AB - With the widespread adoption of smartphones, mobile users today have an increasing number of ways to communicate about their location; the practice of ‘checking in’, thereby broadcasting one’s location to one’s network of friends on Facebook, is one such way. Previous research has indicated that the social sharing of location information in mobile social media may be associated with significant consequences, for instance, in the areas of coordination, self-presentation, network presence and social capital. An interview study conducted with 31 ‘ordinary’ young Danish smartphone and Facebook users, however, indicates that this specific use of location sharing, despite being well-known and despite the potential of the technology indicated by previous research, has come to play a relatively minor role in their everyday lives. Drawing on the domestication approach, this article examines the meaning making associated with the use and particularly the reluctance towards use of the technology and discusses the discrepancy between the existing literature and limited use found in the present study.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - information technology

KW - location

KW - mobile internet

KW - mobile phones

KW - place

KW - smartphones

KW - youth

U2 - 10.1177/1354856514543250

DO - 10.1177/1354856514543250

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1354-8565

VL - 22

SP - 162

EP - 176

JO - Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies

JF - Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies

IS - 2

ER -