I had put on the facebook page my idea and explained that I am doing it to learn how to program myself, as my day job is creating the best customer service in the world, and has never really touched on writing code myself.
I was nervous about sharing my idea because of the fact that anyone who has been learning to program for more than 5 days (I am on day 4) has a huge head start on me and could launch the idea way quicker than I could.
However, What I got back from the community was more encouragement and enthusiasm. And I even was politely asked by one of the guys if I wanted to partner up on the idea as he seemed to really like it, instead of him just taking it for his own.. as he is studying comp science in university i think.
This being said, I am a huge advocate on the fact that every idea has been thought of before and people are going to make the product whether I tell them or not.
So in conclusion, I think telling anyone who will listen about your idea is the right move. You don't have to tell every detail of course, but the feedback, encouragement and opinions of the people who would listen to me have been a big help in this project for me.