Facebook rolled out Facebook “Places” today. Like FourSquare and Gowalla, the feature allows you to check in to locations and share that information with your social network. As a default, if you opt to check in to a Place, Facebook will share that information with “Friends Only.”
Unlike FourSquare and Gowalla, the feature allows your Facebook Friends to check you in to locations without your prior knowledge.
Yes, you will receive a notice and can delete the check in post by your Friend. But isn’t that too late if you don’t want your whereabouts known? I’ve already received several half-joking threats from friends that they will be checking me into … well, let’s just say locations into which I would not want to be checked. Can you say “ripe for abuse?”
Places, if you opt-in, also allows you to share your location with non-Friends and see both Friends and non-Friends checked in where you are. ”People Here Now” the feature is called
If you’re uncomfortable with any of this, here’s how to change your privacy settings:
STEP ONE:
From any Facebook page, in the upper right of the screen, access the Account menu and select “Privacy Settings.”

STEP TWO:
On the “Choose Your Privacy Settings” page, at the bottom of the chart, select “Customize settings.”

STEPS THREE AND FOUR:
On the Customize Settings page, in the “Things I share section,” for the “Places I check in” setting, use the pull-down menu to choose with which groups you will share check in information. You may have to select the “Customize” option within the pull-down menu. I’ve chosen to share with “Friends Only.” If and when I check in of my own volition, I’m okay with sharing that with my Friends. There’s also an option to share only with specific Friends; I think that’s great.
Just below the “Places I check in” setting, enable the “People Here Now” setting if you desire. For now, I’m opting out, although I’m opted in to the same feature on FourSquare. I just don’t care to know what strangers are about and also geeking out with social networking apps. And I might or might now want to bump into Friends while out and about in the wild.

STEP FIVE:
On the same page, the default setting for “Friends can check me in to Places” — Facebook got this one right — is “Select One,” which I assume is an opt out choice. From the pull-down menu, select Enable or Disable as desired. I’m definitely opting out of this one. I can’t imagine I would ever want a default setting that allows others, even Friends, to check me into locations.
Very interestingly, the button paradigm for this setting is different than the other two “Enable” settings on the page . . . .
