Most of my friends hated checking in. It sucked. It’s summer, you’re out with your friends, maybe biking in the park, or playing baseball and all of a sudden it’s noon. Maybe it’s four or six, it didn’t matter, but you had to check in. If you were lucky there was a phone nearby or a friend’s house. If not you had to jump back on your BMX bike and race home. Totally necessary, I’m not going to argue that, but it was an inconvenience at times.

Who would have thought that twenty years later we’d all be checking in for fun. I believe there are quite a few social networks or apps out there that you can use to check in, but the two that I’m most familiar with are Yelp and Foursquare.

Some people have argued that they can be dangerous, people can use them to figure out when you’re out and where you are. You can be stalked by someone or your house could get broken into. Like anything, you have to use them with moderation and common sense. I’ve seen people use their homes as Foursquare locations, I’m not sure that’s too bright. It’s also cheating! Sort of.

There’s a “competitive” aspect to Foursquare, you can become the Mayor of a location and you can collect badges for visiting locations or for accomplishments. Of course you can friend people, and you can also discover new places to visit. People can leave tips and businesses can have offers posted. Yelp is very similar, you can be a “regular” at locations, and you can also friend people there as well.

Both sites have apps which can be used to check in, my problem is that half the time I forget to check in! I’m going to have to write myself a reminder and stick it in my wallet or something. It’s not that big of a deal, but the “competitive” aspect can be fun. I was the Mayor of my favorite bar for a while and I want my title back. The downside is that sometimes it can feel like a job of sorts. Like I said I forget at times, and when I do remember, checking in can feel like punching in. Especially on trips with multiple stops.

Overall, they’re cool sites/apps to play with, and worth checking out. There’s no cost, you can always delete them, and you might end up liking them.

-Gil 

PS – Lots of new music out. New Roots, Eminem, Wu-Tang, Chemical Brothers, and more.
PPS – I need money!