Foursquare was launched in 2009 with a limited availability in the United States. In 2010, Foursquare changed this policy and the network was opened to users worldwide. In March 2010 Foursquare knew 500,000 users worldwide.
Foursquare is a web and mobile application that allows registered users to update their location (venue) to friends. When users check in at locations, they can earn points. Users can share these so called check ins with the world via Twitter or Facebook. In version 1.3 of the iPhone application Foursquare is also possible to set and push messages that pings back when one of your friends checks in somewhere. Users can also collect badges with special tags (keywords), for example keep posted about visits to locations at specific times or time patterns.?Users can also add tips to venues for other users, who then subsequently cab put these on their to-do list.
By “check ins” at places you visit (restaurants, cafes, shops, gyms or dubious massage salons), you can earn points and have yourself eventually crowned mayor of a specific site. But this service can also be dangerous one. Why? Burglars and other miscreants also check your checkins. If you’ve checked into that trendy sushi bar, that means you’re not at home. You can even get on the website pleaserobme.com to see who checked out of his or her home. A publicly available goldmine for burglars. They used to call random phonenumbers from the phonebook to see if anyone was home, now there is the Internet providing this information on a map.
Online stalker used Foursquare to follow his victim
A cyberstalking case in Scotland is about Foursquare, where a 26 -year-old freelance designer from Stockbridge was stalked for 9 months by a 22 -year-old woman he met at a trade show. She sent him dozens of e-mails, phoned and texted almost daily and loomed in places where he had arranged with friends. While they had met only for a few minutes. She was able to follow his every move, because he shared his venues in Foursquare.
Checking in with the police
Police in South Yorkshire?is already using the new social media tool Foursquare to leave safety tips near pubs and taxi stands. The officers checked the most common places where partygoers can be found and selected some 40 locations. Peter Norman says: “Social media is an important way to communicate and is now embedded in our way of working. Foursquare allows us to interact with the community, and especially during the holidays when we see an increase in anti-social behavior and violent crime. “
But who’s checking you?
Police and technology experts warn that social media platforms like Facebook , Twitter and Foursquare might be useful to let everyone know what you engage in and where you ‘re friends are, but it are also the tools for criminals. Much crime is due to the sharing of (too much) information.
Burglars use Facebook and Foursquare
The infographic below shows research of Credit Sesame in which 50 ex-burglars were interviewed in the UK. They found that 80 percent of them expect current burglars are now on Facebook, Twitter, Google Street View, and Foursquare and would use it to determine when and where they should strike.
The Connecticut Police use Foursquare in many investigations. A lot of information about crimes is freely available and “while someone will not check in on Foursquare, while robbing a bank, we have at least seen one case where someone broke into a house, checked in on Facebook while he was there, and forgot to check out… “says officer Stevens.?”You would never place personal information on a billboard out on the street but we now place it all over the world on every street” warns the Brisbane police. They found a man through his Foursquare and Twitter accounts, in which he indicated that he was wary of posting information, but that he did not want to be paranoid about it.
The IACP created a useful fact sheet on using location-based social media services such as Foursquare:
Sources: Wikipedia, Dagblad De Pers (November 8th 2011),?PCMag,?Mashable,?PCMag,?NHRegister, Queensland Times