Facebook Places - good or bad?

I know that this post is a little late, but I had to do my research first.

Several months ago Facebook unveiled a location-based application that allows users to instantly log where they are via GPS, and display the results on Facebook in a manner very similar to Foursquare (www.foursquare.com)
People using the Places application are also asked to tag any 'friends' that may be in the same location, with Facebook Photo.
Facebook was keen to address privacy concerns with the new application. Anyone can remove their name from a posting, and settings can be adjusted to limit the number of people who receive the Places notifications, but how many of us really pay attention to the "Settings" tab.

Foursquare counts around 2.5 million users in its base, Facebook has 500 million. This means that Facebook is positioned to introduce the benefits of location sharing to a new and much wider audience, Don't worry though, every single one of the 500 million on Facebook are honest.
In an effort to protect privacy issues, Facebook has decided to set privacy settings to 'friends only'. I don't know about you, but there are a few "friends" I don't want knowing where I'm at. LOL.

Seriously though, there is a difference between true Friends & Facebook friends. Most people have 100 or more Facebook friends, but how many would you trust with watching your house while your out of town or even picking your kids up from school because you are running a little late?
Tim could have been very cool back in High School, but now he uses all that time he spent on Saturday nights down in his parents basement on the computer to steal peoples personal & financial information. He then sells it to his old Dungeons & Dragons buddy who is a B & E guy.
If Tim wants your info, he will get it, so don't make it easy for him.

I have noticed alot of my Facebook friends using this app to post their location. "John is at Walmart and probably won't be home for a while and since he is single and has no dog, no one is watching his stuff. And by the way, check an earlier post and you will see John in a picture playing "Call to Duty - Black Ops" on his Xbox 360 on his brand new 52 inch plasma screen TV." What do you know, John also listed his full address on his profile page. He may even have left a fully fueled moving truck in the driveway.

As with anything, privacy is one of the most important things to guard. My advice, whether you chose to take it or not, is to be careful what and when you post stuff. Something like, "I just got back from Walmart" is ok, but just don't go to Walmart at the same time and on the same day each week. That is called a routine and makes it easy to plan a visit to your home.
If you go on vacation or just a day trip, tell your Facebook friends about it when you get back and not when, where, and how long you are going to be gone before you even leave.

As always, I hope this helped or at least made you rethink your Facebooking practices.