If there is one thing that burns my britches, its people who check-in at home. When check-in first appeared, it simply named the location “home”. Programs such as FourSquare and Facebook Places have become popular, despite past and current privacy concerns. Now, you can designate cute little names for your home when checking such as “home sweet home”, “paradise”, and yes even “the bat cave”. What most of these users may not realize is, upon clicking on the link, they are directing their followers to their front door.

You never know who is paying attention. The thing that worries me is most people do not adjust their privacy settings. In some cases, this information is blasted to real and fake followers (people you really aren’t friends with) and then sometimes shared with their friends (depending on your privacy settings). I suggest following the listed tips when using check-in services:

• NEVER check-in at a residence (yours or a friend’s), for any reason.
• Only share your location with friends you actually know and trust, not the public.
• Do not create a breadcrumb trail by checking into every location you visit.
• If you tend to friend a lot of people you don’t know, don’t check-in.

Using check-in services is not all bad. Users find specials, discounts, and even claim mayorship of locations. These applications can be fun, but you must remember to be smart when using them.