What does this mean to you?  Why would you care if I checked in or not?

You’ve probably seen in your facebook or twitter stream people checking into places and not sure what the benefit of that is or why would you even care.

Well I care and here are some reasons:
1. Chances are if I am following you on facebook or twitter you are my friend and I would like to see your checkin’s.  Who knows I could be in the same area you are in and my pop my head in to say hello and vice versa.

(This is why I try to keep my personal facebook and twitter followers to a minimum, to avoid the noise.)

2.  This is possibly the best reason if you are a business owner.  When you use location based applications like Foursquare, Loopt, Brightkite, and Google Buzz you are doing yourself a big favor.

a) you are allowing people that use these apps aware that your business is near and they can see real TESTIMONIALS  or comments of what people say about your place
b) we live in a tech world now and if you are up to speed with the newest fad then you will reap the benefits of it
c) face it people like to be in the lime light and when they check in to your spot, this will allows others that check in to see the other cool people on the list too.

3. One of the biggest benefit of a business owner using this is to spread the word of their company.  Example, when I check in to some place, X many followers on my twitter account will see it.  My facebook friends will also see it.  The search engines will see it and if your on the web you can use it to help you with your Search Engine Ranking.

Use it if you like or don’t but as you can see there are many great reasons to use such a service.  I liked checking my brothers stream to see where he is at and what he is up to.  If he is near by eating or hanging out at a spot I can then text him and tell him I am coming through.   So use it to your benefit and also remember to be safe with it.  (Again I don’t mind posting when I am away from home however, others may not want to do that. It’s your call and as long as you understand a right way that fits you to use it, then have at it.)

Tell me how you are using it if you do.  Comment below and tell me your opinion about it.