Dear @GetGlue & @Foursquare When I Check-In, Respect My Privacy!

As many of you know I am a fan of the check-in social networks such as Foursquare (where I am a Level 2 Super User). I check-in to GetGlue on a regular basis for shows and movies and more and I have ordered my stickers more than once to be sent to me in real life.

 

However, one of the issues I have with these sites is they seem to lack respect for our privacy in some of the simplest ways. The services all ask you when you check-in what other social media services you’d like to post your activity to – such as Twitter or Facebook. (This, of course, assumes you’ve connected the accounts to each of the check-in services.) The problem with privacy occurs when I uncheck those boxes asking if I want to share to Facebook and/or Twitter. Often times, GetGlue and Foursquare just straight up don’t listen.

Now, I don’t mean the actual check-in itself is sent to the various social networks but it is often the case that things within the GetGlue or Foursquare ecosystem as a result of your check-in are posted directly to Facebook or Twitter without your consent. When you check-in to a show and earn a sticker on GetGlue or on Foursquare you check-in to a location and earn a badge. Often, even though I uncheck those check boxes allowing the check-in to be sent to Facebook or Twitter the resulting “accomplishment” on the service is still sent to those other sites. Of course I have already consenting to have the accounts all connected to each other but to me this just seems like something that is pretty basic. If I don’t want this check-in sent to Twitter or Facebook isn’t it a given that any resulting badges, stickers, or mayorship notifications should also be prevented from being sent to Twitter and Facebook?

If I don’t want this check-in sent to Twitter or Facebook isn’t it a given that any resulting badges, stickers, or mayorship notifications should also be prevented from being sent to Twitter and Facebook? 

To me it does seem pretty obvious that this is the case. The weirdest part of the whole thing is that it doesn’t always happen. It seems to happen of its own accord and unpredictably and this is something that in my opinion needs to be fixed. Services such as these – especially the location based ones – are already continually under fire by the people with serious privacy concerns, this is one thing that I feel should just work properly within the services. I am singling Foursquare and GetGlue out here because they are the ones I use the most and as such I haven’t noticed it happening on other services because I barely ever use them (and if I am using them, chances are I really don’t mind if it is being sent to other services).

Has this happened to you on these or other services? What do you think about it? Am I in the right?