Facebook Dipping Is The Latest Teen Craze In The UK
July 4, 2008
UK newspaper the Telegraph is reporting that some British teens have found a clever way to cool off during this sweltering season with a little help from Google Earth and Facebook.
The kids are using the accurate imagery on Google Earth to find out where private swimming pools are located and then inviting friends (and anyone else they’ve linked to) via social networking sites like Facebook and Bebo to join them at clandestine pool parties, often picking late night hours or waiting until homeowners leave for work during the day to trespass and go for a swim.
It’s called Facebook ‘dipping.’
Police are getting reports of people returning to their homes at the end of the day to find their pools and back yards full of beer cans and other evidence of these impromptu parties. Others are being awakened late at night by partying kids.
I have to be honest and say the The Telegraph is making a mountain out of a mole hill with this story. First, and most importantly, the weather here in the UK isn’t that great with most days overcast and raining. We do have an occasional heatwave and the odd couple of days here and there that are warm but certainly not enough to be having a ‘craze’.
Taking into account our poor weather, there aren’t that many people with outdoor pools. Surely The Telegraph can come up with better than this.
