Kids have no idea how much of their privacy and safety they are putting at risk by being on Facebook.
And if someone evil wants to stalk a child (or anyone else), they can easily do it by insinuating themselves into one’s friends, groups, work colleagues, etc.
The idea of social networking is okay. But until it can be made private, and until kids can keep it private (most post the most outrageously revealing info without batting an eye, even if parents warn and warn against it), Facebook etc. is a big risk.
Also people don’t seem to realize that if they or their child attracts one of these creeps for some reason, merely blocking him is not going to keep him from tracking one’s activities, location and so on if he decides to do so.
Track practice times were listed on the school website. Trust me. Kids don’t post such details on Facebook because other kids don’t care. They post stupid stuff like song lyrics. They do, however, post details on forums related to running.
The guy went to the high school. The track is on the main road to the high school. Once he found the kid’s town, he could find him.
“But until it can be made private, and until kids can keep it private”
It takes two seconds to completely lock it down. Set privacy settings to “friends only” and don’t accept friend requests from unknown people.