diff --git a/app/Jobs/SendWebMentions.php b/app/Jobs/SendWebMentions.php
index dd4e2835..5bcbda58 100644
--- a/app/Jobs/SendWebMentions.php
+++ b/app/Jobs/SendWebMentions.php
@@ -104,6 +104,9 @@ class SendWebMentions implements ShouldQueue
      */
     public function getLinks($html)
     {
+        if ($html == '' || is_null($html)) {
+            return [];
+        }
         $urls = [];
         $dom = new \DOMDocument();
         $dom->loadHTML($html);
diff --git a/app/Services/NoteService.php b/app/Services/NoteService.php
index e653c6c6..e2b91773 100644
--- a/app/Services/NoteService.php
+++ b/app/Services/NoteService.php
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ class NoteService
 
         //check the input
         if (array_key_exists('content', $data) === false) {
-            throw new \Exception('No content defined'); //we can’t fudge the data
+            $data['content'] = null;
         }
         if (array_key_exists('in-reply-to', $data) === false) {
             $data['in-reply-to'] = null;
@@ -64,6 +64,9 @@ class NoteService
             if ($place !== null) {
                 $note->place()->associate($place);
                 $note->swarm_url = $data['swarm-url'];
+                if ($note->note === null || $note->note == '') {
+                    $note->note = 'I’ve just checked in with Swarm';
+                }
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/database/migrations/2017_08_09_181357_allow_empty_note_content.php b/database/migrations/2017_08_09_181357_allow_empty_note_content.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..49de8b84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/database/migrations/2017_08_09_181357_allow_empty_note_content.php
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+<?php
+
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;
+use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
+use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;
+
+class AllowEmptyNoteContent extends Migration
+{
+    /**
+     * Run the migrations.
+     *
+     * @return void
+     */
+    public function up()
+    {
+        Schema::table('notes', function (Blueprint $table) {
+            DB::statement('ALTER TABLE notes ALTER note DROP NOT NULL');
+        });
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Reverse the migrations.
+     *
+     * @return void
+     */
+    public function down()
+    {
+        Schema::table('notes', function (Blueprint $table) {
+            // we don’t reverse this because we can’t know if there
+            // are NULL entries, in which case SET NOT NULL will fail
+        });
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tests/Feature/SwarmTest.php b/tests/Feature/SwarmTest.php
index 9f395adf..171a1274 100644
--- a/tests/Feature/SwarmTest.php
+++ b/tests/Feature/SwarmTest.php
@@ -51,6 +51,40 @@ class SwarmTest extends TestCase
         ]);
     }
 
+    public function test_faked_ownyourswarm_request_with_no_text_content()
+    {
+        $response = $this->json(
+            'POST',
+            'api/post',
+            [
+                'type' => ['h-entry'],
+                'properties' => [
+                    'published' => [\Carbon\Carbon::now()->toDateTimeString()],
+                    'syndication' => ['https://www.swarmapp.com/checkin/def'],
+                    'checkin' => [[
+                        'type' => ['h-card'],
+                        'properties' => [
+                            'name' => ['Awesomer Venue'],
+                            'url' => ['https://foursquare.com/v/654321'],
+                            'latitude' => ['3.21'],
+                            'longitude' => ['6.54'],
+                        ],
+                    ]],
+                ],
+            ],
+            ['HTTP_Authorization' => 'Bearer ' . $this->getToken()]
+        );
+        $response
+            ->assertStatus(201)
+            ->assertJson(['response' => 'created']);
+        $this->assertDatabaseHas('places', [
+            'external_urls' => '{"foursquare": "https://foursquare.com/v/654321"}'
+        ]);
+        $this->assertDatabaseHas('notes', [
+            'swarm_url' => 'https://www.swarmapp.com/checkin/def'
+        ]);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Generate a valid token to be used in the tests.
      *