Well, if you use location-based social networking services such as Foursquare, Gowalla or Yelp, among others, you might just have the over-sharing syndrome: Waldo Envy. Forbes blogger David Pell pointed out "...there is an increasing number of people who suffer from a major case of Waldo Envy — you're convinced people care where you are."

These location-based social networking services work by "checking you in," or marking your current location on a map, which is then placed in a social context. Many people who check-in on location-based social networks also simultaneously update their statuses with their location on other social networks such as Facebook or Twitter. What many people may not realize is that, unless they have adjusted their privacy settings to broadcast their information to their friends only, their location is actually broadcasted for ALL to see across the Internet.

The ramifications of publicly broadcasting one's current location across social networks such as Twitter and Facebook were brought to light by a website called PleaseRobMe.com, which aggregated people who publicly posted their current location and pointed out one fact: they were not home. PleaseRobMe.com presented those people as "opportunities" and boasted a tagline of "Listing All Those Empty Homes Out There." Although PleaseRobMe.com is now defunct, its brief existence certainly raised awareness about the issue of over-sharing.

Hmmm... time to adjust those privacy settings?

Kevin Brockett | Team Coordinator