First, we talked about Blippy, a Twitter-esque site that allows users to post just about anything they charge to a credit card to the site for all to see.  Then we looked at Shoeboxed, a monthly service that scans and stores copies of your important receipts on their website.  Now, for the epic conclusion in our Stalker’s Paradise trilogy, we look at location sharing sites.

Location sharing sites exist for the express purpose of pinpointing a person’s location whenever they access the service.  Now, I’m not talking about those cell phones for kids that have a GPS attached to them so little Susie won’t get lost in the mall again; I’m referring to sites like Gowalla and Foursquare, and even Facebook and Google. 

Okay, seriously, who comes up with these names?

Let’s start with Gowalla and Foursquare.  Both are generally considered to be the pioneers of location-based social networking.  Like other social sites, both of these pages allow users to sign up, import contacts from their email or Facebook/Twitter accounts, and start sharing status updates.  What these two bring to the table is allowing users to “check in” and update their exact location at any given time. 

How it works

Say you’re in LA for the weekend and you’re a Foursquare user.  You check in at the Hilton (where a pot of coffee cost me 28.00), both literally and digitally, and then decide you’re in the mood for Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles.  You find your way to the eatery, and “check in” with Foursquare to let it know you’re there.  Now all your friends on the site – and Facebook or Twitter if you link your accounts – know exactly where you are with a handy GPS map.

Gowalla holds the same basic concept, but places emphasis on games you can play in order to win digital trophies.  Similar to video game achievements, you can unlock these special virtual pins for visiting certain locations a set number of times, like checking in at 10 different bars to win a bar hopping pin or 10 Mexican restaurants to win the “Lucha Libre pin.”  Foursquare offers similar badges, but chooses to focus more on the social aspect then the gaming side.

What happens when the big boys come out to play

If you’re sitting there saying to yourself, “I’ve never even heard of either of these, so why should this matter to me?” you certainly aren’t alone.  Between the two of them, Gowalla and Foursquare have yet to break the one million member mark which, in the social networking world, makes them both relatively small towns compared to a megalopolis like Facebook.

And now I’m reading that Facebook themselves are thinking of breaking into the location sharing scene in a big way.  That’s more than 400 million people (Facebook’s user base according to that NYTimes article) that can now update where they are whenever they post and see where others are as well.

Now no one is safe

There was a time when all a Terminator could do to find Sarah Connor was check all the phone listings for someone with that name and visit them individually until he found the right one.  That was in the 80s. 

If the Terminator came back in time today to try and stalk Sarah Connor, all he’d need to do was key into her Twitter account to see she was going out to dinner, check her Foursquare profile to see where she’s eating, meet her there, and catch up on old times.  Or he could check her location on Facebook and surprise her when she gets home.

Thankfully, we don’t (yet) live in a world of advanced killer robots from the future, so we don’t have to worry about any surprises there.  We do, however, have to deal with something almost as dangerous: Identity theft.

My final thoughts

Now, I don’t mean to stand on a soapbox and completely decry social networking as a whole.  I think sites like Facebook are great for getting back in and staying in touch with friends both new and old.  I think Twitter is a great business tool.  But there comes a point where voyeurism just goes way too far.  In a time when everyone and their kitchen sink is trying to hold onto every financial asset they can, sharing your credit card purchases, mailing out your receipts, or letting the world know every time you step out of your house is just taking it too far.

Of course, you can always choose to be a virtual shut-in and stay away from social networking completely, but anyone who does feel like stepping out into the web’s spotlight should at least think twice about how far into the limelight they’re willing to go.

What do you think?  Are any of these sites worth your time?  Am I being unjustifiably paranoid?  We just think there's a little irony in the fact that identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the world, and we're sharing more information than ever before. Let me know your thoughts on social networking and what it means to you. 

PS. And don’t forget to Stalk follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Other articles of interest:

• Our thoughts on Blippy
• Shoebox
• Stop dreaming and start fixing your credit
• Legal credit repair strategies
• credit repair reviews

Hot off the heels of my previous blog about Blippy (part 1 of our stalkers paradise trilogy), a site that allows users to share their credit purchases online with other people, comes a quick look at Shoeboxed – a web page that scans and saves copies of your personal and business receipts.

I’ve recently begun packing my stuff up for a move, and it’s taught me 2 important things about myself:

1. I have way too much junk.
2. I’m the most unorganized person on the planet.  Or at least in Southern California.

Okay, I pretty much knew these things already, but that second point didn’t really hit home until the other night when I opened my desk drawer, where I keep most of my old receipts and other documents and saw the random assortment of papers that threatened to fly out.  I muttered something about needing to get organized for the thousandth time, then started pulling papers out and tossing them into a box.

“Netflix for receipts?”

As I tried to sort through the pile of papers, many of them so old they were barely legible anymore, I wondered if there was any way I actually COULD organize all those receipts.  Glad to have any excuse to stop packing, I fired the internet up and started looking for a way to back up important receipts and documents digitally. 

A quick Google search later, and I stumbled upon Shoeboxed.com, a site that’s been described as a sort of “Netflix for receipts.”  I guess because they ship you a giant envelope to mail your receipts to them, only Shoeboxed is blue to Netflix’s red.  You put any receipts you want saved (for big purchases and business expenses mainly, unless you want to hold onto a copy of that Starbucks receipt for future reference) into that big blue envelope, then send it in to be scanned and uploaded for your perusal.  They’ll even organize them for you in personal categories. 

How it works

Unlike a social site like Blippy, Shoeboxed charges a monthly fee for their services, from $9.95/month for a basic “Lite” plan to $49.95/month for “Business” class, which offers 500 scans a month compared to the Lite’s 50.  Sounds like a decent enough plan.

Here’s my problem with it though; I’m not too crazy about mailing my receipts – even copies of my receipts, personal or otherwise – out to a third party.  I’m not trying to accuse Shoeboxed of trying anything suspicious, but even they can’t guarantee that nothing may happen to your receipts while they’re in transit. 

The site also claims a turnaround time of 3-5 business days from when Lite members mail in their receipts to them being scanned and posted online.  So what happens when I suddenly need the receipt I sent in yesterday today?

Just do it yourself

Shoeboxed does offer the option to scan and upload as many receipts as you want on your own, and this is a method I can get behind if you want to digitally back up any big expense or business-related receipts.  Even though, by law, most receipts don’t contain critical information like your social security or credit card numbers, in a time when identity theft is so rampant and people’s credit histories are more important than ever to maintain, I’m more than a little hesitant to recommend sending any kind of personal financial information out into the open.

Save yourself the potential hassle, buy a scanner, and start scanning your important documents yourself.  Not only is it a great way to keep track of your receipts, you can also use this as a tool to create a personal monthly budget for yourself by reviewing your previous month’s purchases and adjusting accordingly.

Other Articles & Blogs:

• Blippy – an identity waiting to be stolen
• Was cash for clunkers a failure?
• My Credit Group recommends Mint.com

There’s no business like your business.  With the extreme rise in popularity of social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn, living in a virtual glass house is quickly becoming the norm for a lot of people.  Most who use these sites know to at least proceed with caution.  After all, you really never know who may be watching you.

Now there’s one site that aims to help you air even more of your dirty laundry for the world-at-large to see: Blippy.com.

Who the hell comes up with the names for these sites, anyway?

Blippy (which I can only assume is named for the electronic “blip” card machines make when you charge to them) is basically Twitter for your credit cards.  Just another way to drag up personal and mundane details about your life for anyone browsing to see.  It’s certainly an interesting concept, as seeing what a person spends their money on can tell you more about them than whatever song lyric they decide to post on Facebook.

How it works

Similar to Twitter, you sign up for the service, then start amassing an army of followers, and following other people in kind.  You’re then given the option of linking information from your online purchases from sites and services like iTunes, Netflix, eBay, and Amazon.  Once you’ve done that, whenever you buy something from any of the sites you linked to, your purchase information is posted for all to see, whether they’re following you or not.

So whenever I rent a movie from Netflix, win a bid on eBay, or buy a new album or song on iTunes, anyone can see what I got, and how much I paid for it.  Thankfully, you have the option to review each transaction before it’s posted, so any purchases from behind the black curtain at a video store can be kept hidden.

Why you might wanna rethink signing up

Besides listing your Amazon purchases, Blippy also gives you the option to link to your credit and debit card information, so you can post virtually anything you charge to a card online.  While I can think of a couple of possible ways this could work in your favor (“I swear honey, I DIDN’T blow our savings in Vegas, and I can prove it!”), I’m still a little wary of making that much information public knowledge. 

Last month, Blippy was tracking over $2 million in user transactions each week, so either a lot of people are onboard and I’m just being paranoid, or people are spending a LOT of money on eBay purchases these days.  Still, with news that a few members accidently had their credit card numbers cached in Google, anyone thinking about sharing this much personal information about themselves may want to stick to posting what they did with their kids at Disneyland, not how much they spent there.

Got a Blippy account?  Let us know what you think of the service, and whether or not you’d post your purchases online. 

My closing thoughts.

As a credit repair company that deals with thousands and thousands of identity theft victims, I don't like this. I see red flags everywhere. I'm not saying its bad, but something about this makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable.

Other areas of our site:

• Improving your credit score after a bankruptcy
• Are credit repair review sites all scams?
• Debt Settlement Services