I’m a FourSquare badge seeker. I proudly earned 4 upon my check in to this weekend’s Rally For Sanity in Washington, DC but decided against checking in today in order to collect my 2010 Voting badge.
Why?
Personal privacy. I made it my rule to never check in to FourSquare when I am anywhere close to home. I won’t check in while using mass transit which could be used to pinpoint my route in and out of Washington, DC. I don’t care to share the places that I frequent through a mayorship. I’ll never share where I take my kids for their afterschool activities. I don’t link my FourSquare to my Facebook or Twitter feeds.
I didn’t check into our polling place due to its proximity to our home and also because it is our school.
Just like the other venues in that we frequent, this one was too close to home.
While I may be a badge junkie, I wasn’t willing to cross my line in the sand in order to divulge this information about myself or my family.
Everyone’s line is different? Where is yours? How much information are you willing to give up about yourself?
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Original post by Tech Savvy Mama
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I don’t check in with Yelp or FourSquare on FB or Twitter but given that no one is after me to my knowledge I don’t consider it a problem to reveal where I am. Actually, I consider it a safety feature as a single woman who rolls alone most of the time. It would be a great way for Sarah (who is also on FourSquare) to tell my family where I last was if anything happened to me.
It’s not a popular opinion, but I think a lot of these fears are overstated. I guess it would depend upon who and what the threats were…but I just don’t have them, in general.
Yeah, I pretty much don’t do anything location-based. I think you are making smart decisions.
you know, I didn’t even consider that today. I was all about getting that badge, just to horde another badge.
I don’t check in at the kids’ school, and I’ve been a lot more careful about checking in on twitter or FB lately. Really cutting back on those. But your post is a great reminder that this “game” tells a lot more about you then the fact that you frequent Starbucks.
I think your lines are smart. I stay off of foursquare because I have trouble with lines sometimes.
I love Laurie’s response that she’s leaving a trail of bread crumbs for people to find her kidnapped self. I probably shouldn’t find that as funny as I do.
Laurie- You bring up a great point about using checkins as a trail as a single woman. When I travel by myself, I like to check in for that reason and also to find tips about the place that I’m visiting. Thanks for bringing this up!
Kim- I also don’t like geotagging photos that are taken at home for that very reason!
Julie- The voting check in caused some mental anguish because my desire for privacy seriously conflicted with my badge whoring desires!
Stimey- It took me forever to get into FourSquare! And in the event that anything ever happens to Laurie, I know the entire team of DC Moms will be on the case Encyclopedia Brown style and using social media to provide tips to the police!
I decided not to join FourSquare for that very reason – too much info. And I don’t geotag photos from home, either.