When foursquare first started getting popular I remember thinking, "What is the world coming to?!"  I just couldn't understand why people would want to constantly pinpoint their location on a map for everyone to see.  To each their own, but I just didn't get it.

For those of you who aren't familiar,  foursquare is an application that lets you "check in" to places you visit via your phone.  You just download the application and it uses your phone's GPS to find exactly where you're at, business name and all.  foursquare then automatically publishes the places you visit to Twitter or Facebook, depending on your settings.  According to foursquare's website, the application is meant to be a city guide and friend-finder as well as a game since it rewards users for visiting new places.

As time went by I decided what the heck, and created an account.  Although it irked me when my Facebook homepage was bombarded with people checking in to every single place they went (home, the grocery store, etc.), I started to see a possible professional use for the application.

For my current internship I get to travel a little bit and sometimes visit some interesting places, so I decided that foursquare would be an easy way to let people know what I'm up to professionally.  I also started to use foursquare for social purposes too, but with a little discretion.  When I was in Washington D.C. the other week I checked in to the different places we visited so people could see what I was up to.  You'll never see me check in at the gas station or Walmart, but I do like to publicize any neat places I get to visit.

I guess the moral of the story is to make social media work for you.  Instead of thinking of foursquare as a strictly social application, try to look at it's professional possibilities.  As long as you set it up so that only your friends can see the places you check in to and you follow my advice on discretion, there really is no drawback.

I bet that the next time you end up somewhere pretty cool for an event or business opportunity you get the urge to foursquare... it's pretty addicting.

Do you use foursquare?  If so, what type of places do you check in to and do you agree with my train of thought?

I'm going to assume that all of the interns or college students reading this are familiar with social networking sites- if you're not, you should be.

Not only are sites like Facebook and Twitter great for keeping up with friends and satisfying your inner-narcissist, but they are also great tools for promoting yourself and networking with professional contacts.



My personal advice for anyone using social networking sites is simply- BE SMART!

I have too many friends who use their Facebook accounts to post drunken pictures of themselves and their friends for the whole world to see.  Now I have to admit- at one point in time I might have been pretty lax about what all I posted on my Facebook page, but I have since changed my ways.

When I started working and doing internships I found out that the majority of people I worked with were on Facebook too, and I was 99% sure they weren't interested in seeing pictures of my friends doing keg-stands last weekend.

When they added me I was faced with the dilemma- do I deny them and lose a chance to network or accept their invitation and give them full access to my personal information?

My decision?  Add them (who wants to pass up a good networking opportunity?), but get familiar with Facebook's privacy controls so I decide who sees what on my profile.

General Privacy Settings

If you don't take advantage of the privacy settings, you're not making a very smart decision.  Seriously- there are so many creeps on the web; why would you want to inadvertently give a stranger info like your full name, birthday, what you're doing right now, etc.?

Wising up is as simple as logging onto Facebook, clicking on "Account", then "Privacy Settings", and customizing away (I would recommend at least making everything "Friends Only").

Congratulations- you're one step closer to gaining yourself some privacy.



Limited Profile List

After a nightmare of a situation during one of my internships where one of my coworkers had a habit of telling my boss virtually everything I posted on Facebook, sometimes in front of me, (even if my posts weren't inappropriate, it was still awkward) I learned to use the Limited Profile Friends List ASAP, and have never looked back.

At first, it was a pain; I went through all of my existing friends and placed on the list anyone who I knew through work, politics, or other professional settings (oh, and family members- ugh everyone is on Facebook these days).

I then changed my privacy settings so that people on my Limited Profile Friends List didn't have access to my pictures, my status updates, and things my friends posted on my wall; basically my professional contacts can only information that is also available on my resume.

To create your own Limited Profile Friends List, go to "Account", "Edit Friends", and "Create New List".  Then, when you go into your "Privacy Settings" (like I described above) you can customize the settings so your Limited Profile can/can't see certain things on your profile.



Now you can still post drunken pictures and post crazy status updates and only your actual friends can see them!  Genius, right?

(On a side note, I would personally recommend not posting any pictures that might be construed as inappropriate because it's really not that cool and can still get to the wrong people, but... to each their own.)

Just use your head and think twice before posting or allowing other people to post something on your page- your boss could be watching!