NEW YORK, NY September 14 — Checking in on social media sites is just catching on with adults, but it’s becoming common for young users. Four in 10 students (40%) have ever checked in via social media, with high school students slightly (45%) more likely than their college elders to have done so, according to Ypulse, the leading authority on youth culture and marketing.

“It is a minority of young social media users who have done so, but the numbers are significant, particularly in comparison to the mere 4% of all adults who have checked in via social sites, according to Pew Research,” said Ypulse editor-in-chief Melanie Shreffler.

Among the students who have ever checked in online, they’ve done so at:

-Events other than concerts (67%);

-Movies (64%);

-Restaurants other than fast food places (63%);

-Concerts (62%);

-Retailers (52%);

-Friends’ or families’ homes (47%);

-Their own home (45%);

-Fast food restaurants (45%); and

-Online while watching TV, ie checking in to a show (32%).

“What Millennials post online is their social currency,” said Ypulse’s Shreffler, “A check in at the sold-out concert, hot night spot, or cool store ups their social street cred and shows others they part of the latest trend. Checking in is yet another way to share what they’re into. Millennials don’t worry about privacy in the process —they’re comfortable sharing their whereabouts and don’t mind marketers using that information to better understand them.”

It takes more than a presence on social media for brands and retailers to take advantage of Millennials’ desire to broadcast their lives. Offering exclusive content or a discount — a free MP3 download for checking in at a concert or a free soda with purchase at a restaurant — rewards users for checking in and sharing the brand with friends and encourages them to continue that behavior.

Methodology: The results of the Ypulse Report: Food & Beverages 2011 are drawn from 1,326 interviews conducted among members of the SurveyU panel between July 14 and July 25, 2011.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have registered to participate in surveys for SurveyU, a Ypulse-owned online research panel. Quotas were established based on gender, state, class year, and race. The data have been weighted using National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data to reflect the demographic composition of U.S. high school and college students.

Because the sample is based on those who initially self-selected for participation in the panel rather than a probability sample, no estimates of sampling error can be calculated. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to multiple sources of error, including, but not limited to sample error, coverage error, and measurement error.