This guest post was submitted by Danielle B. Her bio is at the end of the article.
Nowadays, you would be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t use at least one form of social media, whether s/he is planting virtual crops in Farmville or live-tweeting through a favorite television show. Though social media is a boon for staying in touch with friends and relatives, exercise caution when you’re online. Just as you would protect your home from invasion with an ADT security system, so too should you guard the information you share online from the less than noble.
Sites like Facebook are great for sharing information about your life, including general tidbits and big announcements like promotions or proposals. What can seem like the innocuous sharing of information, however, also gives clues about your life and routine, such as where you work and hours of the day that you’re generally gone. Though our current culture revolves around how quickly we can share information with our social networks, it’s a good idea to tame those updates, especially given privacy concerns related to using the site.
Although users of networks like Foursquare can gain points for checking in, doing so announces your exact location to everyone you’re friends with or followed by. It’s best to operate under the assumption that you’re speaking to the entire Internet when you post online. As such, you may think twice before unwittingly helping a burglar establish your routine and figure out when you’re most likely to be away. If you can’t help but check in, do so when you’re leaving for home. You’ll still gain the benefits without making yourself more vulnerable than necessary.
Though it’s tempting to mention an upcoming vacation with your online friends, even if only on your blog that has a few readers, curb the impulse to advertise that you’ll be gone for the holiday weekend or longer. A motivated burglar need only Google you for leads about your location – made even easier if you geotag yourself – and wait for your farewell post before leaving you with a nasty post-vacation surprise.
Tips:
- Install an ADT home security system. Likewise, make acquaintances of your neighbors who can keep an eye on your home while you’re away, even if just during the workday. When leaving town, consider hiring a house sitter so that your home remains occupied during your vacation.
- Confine talk about an upcoming vacation to private message rather than on your feed where anyone can easily access it, especially if you use a public computer and forget to sign out. It only takes one dishonest person to treat your island getaway check-in as an invitation to break in.
- Remember that tweets are forever.
While you might be tempted to never go online or leave your home so as to protect yourself and your investment, doing so simply isn’t feasible. Just remember to use social media applications wisely. You can post plenty of jokes, quips, retweets to articles you think friends or family will be interested in, and even news about your workday. Just keep the specifics to a minimum so that your welcome mat doesn’t become “Welcome, burglars.”
Danielle is an avid user of social media and believes in its power to connect people to make the world a more informed place. She does not believe, however, in “checking in” to her house or work on a regular basis. Unless a check-in adds credibility to your online presence as an expert in your field, Danielle believes location data should be kept private. Read more at professionalintern.com.
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