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Privacy Primer for Savinz
We like to think the social shopping products at Savinz are pretty powerful and we're thrilled to have so many passionate users who find significant value in sharing their shopping information with others. However, we know an important concern for most anyone using social shopping services is privacy. What you purchase and from where you make your purchases can often be sensitive and we want our users to be comfortable with how this information is shared via Savinz.
The bottom line is that we understand how important privacy is to you. From the beginning we've been working hard to build a range of robust privacy controls into the Savinz experience to give users control over the amount of information they share about their shopping lives. We've been a leader in the shopping sharing services platforms- popularizing the concept of voluntarily sharing your “shopping victories” and products desired, “wishlists” - and we aspire to be leaders in the way we educate our users on privacy issues related to your shopping lives.
To explain what type of information is shared on Savinz, we've broken out some highlights below:
Sharing Shopping Data
Your shopping data is ONLY shared with others when you proactively decide to “check in” to tell Savinz you're at a particular place. Each of your Savinz check-ins is saved to your "Check-in History" which allows you to look back at all the places you have checked in since you created your Savinz account. You can delete any or all of your check-ins from the History page on the Savinz website. If for some reason you ever decide to delete your Savinz account, your entire check-in history will be removed from our database.
Savinz Friends
To view another user's check-in information, you need to add them as a friend (and they need to accept your invitation), or you need to accept a friend invitation from them. (Our friending model is similar to Facebook's “friends” rather than Twitter's “followers”). Only your Savinz friends can see your feed of individual check-ins.
User Settings
We provide a wide range of privacy controls to all users on the User Settings page. These settings control things such as whether your Savinz friends are allowed to see your email and phone number, whether you want to participate in public Mayorships, whether local merchants can see when you've checked into their businesses, and options for sharing your Savinz actions with Twitter and/or Facebook.
Receiving Shopping Data
Whenever you open the Savinz app on your mobile phone, we use the location information from your phone to tailor the Savinz experience to your current location (i.e. we'll show you a list of nearby venues, friends and tips). This information is NOT published to your profile or shared with others. We save this information until the next time you launch the Savinz app, at which time we delete your old location information and replace it with your most recent location information.
Sharing Categories
One of the benefits of Savinz is that it allows you to connect with other users in your neighborhood. We've specifically designed features that can give you a glimpse into which other Savinz users (both friends and non-friends) are currently checked in at nearby venues. In our mobile apps, you'll find this information listed under the heading “Who's Here” when you click on a venue. Since we realize some folks may not want to appear on this “Who's Here” list, you can opt out of this feature on your User Settings page.
"Off the Grid"
Sometimes you'll want to check in without sharing your specific whereabouts with friends. This is why we created “off the grid” check-ins -- a way of adding places to your check-in history, earning points and badges while letting your friends know you're out, all without disclosing your specific location to them. We find this comes in handy on dates, dinners with parents, or at a coffee shop when you're just trying to get some work done - really anywhere where you don't want to friends to drop in. To check-in “off the grid”, simply select “No” on the “Share this check-in with friends” option seen on every “check-in” screen across our mobile apps.
Twitter and Facebook
Savinz gives you the option of sharing some of your activity to your Twitter and/or Facebook accounts. Of course, when you publish Savinz check-ins, Mayorships, or badge unlocks to Twitter or Facebook, this information will be viewable by the communities on those services (and in the case of Twitter, may be discoverable by search engines). Please see our FAQs for more information on what happens when you choose to connect your Savinz account to your Twitter or Facebook accounts, and how you can adjust which information you share across these services.
Sharing Matrix
Savinz was designed to make it easier to share your favorite places and experiences with friends. We do this in several ways, including check-ins, Mayorships and badge unlocks. For an outline of what information is shared only with Savinz friends vs. the wider Savinz community (and what controls you have over what is shared) please review the table here.
Privacy Policy
For further detail on Savinz's approach to these issues, please see our privacy policy.
Last Updated August 21, 2010
