by Thu Nguyen

Created on: September 27, 2010

Location-based services are beginning to heat up the mobile application arena. When Facebook introduced us to the feature of Places which allows users to check-in to spots where their friends may be, they also opened up a can of worms. Thus, when we are friends with anyone, they can now find out where we are, where we've been at and even check us in to places we weren't really at. Now, isn't that a darn?

So while this may seem like a cool joke for some, which is natural among friends, it is not for business. With over 500 million users on the network and growing more each day, Facebook has become the premiere social network for both personal and business concerns. This means your boss can see where you've been at and worse even your parents! With that dilemma, nothing is private if you don't readjust your Facebook Places settings. This article then will highlight some of the areas which members may want to change so that this feature will not become a problematic privacy concern.  

Set Restrictive Check-Ins

Facebook will e-mail a user once someone checks him/her in. This then will be visible to everyone nearby. In order to restrict who sees where you are and what you may be doing, you can set custom friends to see what you're doing.

To do this, go to Account -> Privacy Settings. Under where it says 'Friends only', go to 'customize settings'. Then specify under 'Places I check in' that you want a 'custom' setting. Here, choose who you want to make your check-ins visible to. This is a also the place where you can hide your check-ins from. It would be a good idea to include your boss or parents here if your check-ins online might expose too much of where you've been and risk you from getting into trouble.

Disabling ‘Friends Can Check Me In’

Facebook enables by default ‘Friends can check me in’ on Places. You might want to turn this off though. Just press on the drop-down menu on the setting and select ‘Disable’.

At this point, most of your privacy concerns would be at a minimum. Now is a good time to also adjust the e-mail settings so that you won’t be spammed with who checked you in. Since you’ve already adjusted your custom settings, you won’t have to worry much. Once again, just go to your Account -> Account Settings -> Notifications and uncheck the alerts for ‘Tags me at a place’ or ‘Comments on my visits to Places’.

Online, privacy concerns are a real issue as anyone can use it against us for reasons beyond our control. With some adjustments, we can still use Facebook Places but also retain our own personal matters. The above settings should then ease the minds for those who wish to venture out into location-based operations and explore for themselves the potential fun instead of the potential scare.

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