I'm with Kathy: Safety concerns w/ social media

[pdarrah]

I agree with Kathy that there is some concern with using 4Square (or any social media) to tell everyone your location. Just because you haven't marked your "home" location in 4Square doesn't mean it isn't fairly easy to find. Particularly if you use your real name anywhere and have your social media linked. Once someone has your actual name & your home town (or if the name is fairly unique - your home state may be sufficient) odds are they can find your home address.

If your home is in Illinois and you are posting all over social media that you are at Disneyworld, there is a very good chance that no one is at your home and a thief can target it.

Even if you haven't included your home state/town in one of your profiles, there are other ways to figure it out. Maybe you check-in at locations near your home frequently or maybe you mention something local in a post (name your local politician, reference a local news story, something about a local sports team, etc.)

It is certainly a personal decision how concerned you are about privacy and how concerned you are about others knowing you aren't home - just be aware that the odds are fairly high someone can figure out your home address without too much trouble if you aren't being very cautious about the information you are putting out there.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

I agree as well. We are lucky not to have the same concerns as many home owners because our building has 24 hour doormen, but posting when you are going to be on vacation is a liability for many people. I have really strict security on my social media accounts, so I do “check in” places from time to time, but I am super cognizant of when Facebook changes their settings and I have to go in and fix it again.

 

[SamSam]

I share the same concerns, and very seldome post about being away from home. Although I have to admit to posting 'only 2 more weeks till WDW' ..that type of thing.

Along the same lines (and I may have heard it on a podcast) when you set up your Garmin (or whatever brand you have) never put your real home address in it because if it's stolen all the thief has to do is select 'Home' and it will lead them right to your house. I pick a business that's relatively close and use that address.

 

[collins316]

We had an officer come speak to us about safety at my workplace. One of the things she taught us was to never say when you are away from home, especially if it is an extended amout of time, like a vacation.
Not only your friends can see your facebook posts, but also your friends of friends. And there are ways to get a login to facebook where you can view everyone and everything. She has that type of login, left over from when facebook was newer and used primarily for universties. But she said it was easy enough to get for anyone
I post my Disney pics when I get back home.

 

[tehSAC]

I stopped using foursquare and posting where I am on twitter for this reason. I also dont post my instagram photos until I am back home or a day or two later after I took them. I only share photos through text while on vacation to people who I know, know I'm on vacation.

Although I do catch myself abandoning my own rules from time to time.

 

[robinb]

I limit my audience when I post on Facebook when I'm on vacation to real friends only (as opposed to "facebook game friends"). I set up my privacy settings before I go and then loosen them up when I come home.

 

[lugnut33]

Why would anybody think anyone else is remotely interested to know your current location?

Not directed at you tehSAC (CSi4lyfe) but everybody.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

I limit my audience when I post on Facebook when I'm on vacation to real friends only (as opposed to "facebook game friends"). I set up my privacy settings before I go and then loosen them up when I come home.

...essentially letting everyone who isn't your real friend know that when they can't see your entire feed, you must be on vacation?

 

[robinb]

...essentially letting everyone who isn't your real friend know that when they can't see your entire feed, you must be on vacation?

I'll just have to open up my settings and play some games my next vacation then .

 

[metalis4ever]

I limit my settings as well to allow only the people I trust to see my location postings....having said that I'm not worried about my home address being published especially since it's public knowledge via the phone book (if anyone still uses those outdated things haha) and online, just google your name and you'll be shocked to see how much information about you there is out there for public consumption.


I only link my Foursquare and Untapped to Facebook when I am doing something cool that I want to brag about to all my friends like front row at Iron Maiden, at an awesome Wrestling show, riding Space Mountain or in a really cool bar pounding delicious beers

 

[HippieChickadee]

Why would anybody think anyone else is remotely interested to know your current location?

Not directed at you tehSAC (CSi4lyfe) but everybody.

Yes. This.

 

[Stitch_lover_Sith]

I have my Facebook security super tight and my address is deliberately wrong. Takes one to a vacant lot. So I post whatever I want, they can have whatever they want from the lot.

 

[SamSam]

Why would anybody think anyone else is remotely interested to know your current location?

Not directed at you tehSAC (CSi4lyfe) but everybody.

It as been documented that thieves target people they know will be gone. It sometimes happens now through social media, much the way it used to happen (more rarely but it did happen) when thieves would read the obits and target peoples homes derived from that info.

Normal people aren't interested in knowing anyone else's current location, however, thieves find that information very helpful.

 

[DisneyKevin]

Why would anybody think anyone else is remotely interested to know your current location?

Not directed at you tehSAC (CSi4lyfe) but everybody.

This would be the equivalent of not stopping your newspaper or mail.

7 days worth of newspaper delivery left on your steps tells people that you are not at home.

People take all kinds of precautions to make sure people think you are there.

Lights on timers, mail stoppage, neighbors watering your plants and picking up deliveries etc.

This is the modern version of that.

Posting on any social media site that you and your brood are in XXXXX for 10 days let's people with bad intent know that you arent there and wont be for a while.

 

[SamSam]

This would be the equivalent of not stopping your newspaper or mail.

7 days worth of newspaper delivery left on your steps tells people that you are not at home.

People take all kinds of precautions to make sure people think you are there.

Lights on timers, mail stoppage, neighbors watering your plants and picking up deliveries etc.

This is the modern version of that.

Posting on any social media site that you and your brood are in XXXXX for 10 days let's people with bad intent know that you arent there and wont be for a while.

Thank you Kevin, you said it much better than I did. We never stop our newspaper delivery or our mail delivery, we have a neighbor pick it up for us. He also will take our trash receptable to the curb on 'pick up' day. Just a few less people that know we're not home.

 

[JVL1018]

I do post that I'm away, but I (tongue in cheek) post that my house isn't empty, so don't go trying to steal anything.

We share a 2 family house with my husband's dad, so he's always around, often spending hours a day in our house because he watches the dog and he likes to hang out with her and watch TV.

If my house was empty, I'm not sure if I'd post about it.

 

[HippieChickadee]

It as been documented that thieves target people they know will be gone. It sometimes happens now through social media, much the way it used to happen (more rarely but it did happen) when thieves would read the obits and target peoples homes derived from that info.

Normal people aren't interested in knowing anyone else's current location, however, thieves find that information very helpful.

I took it as they were saying "why does ANYONE care" not just thieves.

Why post your location for anyone? Who cares where you are, what you're doing, what you're eating, what you're wearing, who you're with, what you bought, what illness you have currently, etc etc etc....

The joys of social media

 

[*NikkiBell*]

I agree and disagree with some of the points made here.

I absolutely detest Twitter, so excuse me if I'm wrong, but it's my understanding that there are no privacy settings on it. Once you "tweet," it's out there to the public and anyone can see it. That gives access of any information you post to everyone - both the bad and good.

With Facebook, however, there are numerous privacy settings that can be activated; unfortunately, not many people either know about them or use them. This includes the option of creating multiple "groups" of friends with their own unique settings. You can control what each group sees in terms of status updates, photos, "check-ins," etc. There is also the option of not making any groups and selecting the same privacy settings for everyone.

Similarly, the only way supposed criminals, thieves - if you will, can see the content on your FB page is if you give them access to do so. Again, you can make your account public or private. In this way, if you don't accept friend requests from those you don't know, there's no possible way for thieves to get to you. It's all about selecting what settings are right for you.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Nikki, you can secure your Twitter so that only people who you give permission to follow you can read your tweets.

 

[dawnhaze]

Twitter does have a privacy switch. I keep mine locked down because of a requirement at my job.