Why You Should Refrain from Sharing Your Activities on Social Media
Younger generation finds it fun to share their activities on social media. Whenever they go out of city for vacations, have meals at a restaurant or meet an old friend, they share a status update. However, this practice is extremely dangerous. Do you know 80% of burglars use social media sites to keep an eye on their potential targets?
Why It’s Unsafe to Share Everything via Social Media
Burglars use different social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to know about people who intend to go away for weeks to spend vacations. Social media provides them access to useful information including personal details, length of the trip, and valuable possessions owned by homeowners. With the help of this information, they can target groups of people.
It doesn’t take more than 2 minutes to enter a house and ten minutes to carry out a burglary for burglars. It’s because, nowadays, more than 78% intruders check out the location of a house with the help of Google View. They carry out some research via social media to know how long the homeowners will be away from home and plan their activities accordingly.
How to Stay Safe from Modern Day Burglars
Even if you’re tempted to boast about your trip or fun activities, it’s in your best interest to keep the information to yourself. Share this information only with your close friend or family. No one else is actually interested in you activities and by bragging on social media, you’ll end up compromising your safety.
Never share your detailed travelling plans beforehand, or else potential thieves will get alert and loot your valuable possessions while you’re away. You can share this information only after returning from a tour. Similarly, when you buy an expensive item and post its pictures on Facebook or Instagram, it may attract burglars.
It’s okay to occasionally share personal information on social media. However, refrain from uploading every personal detail on your Facebook account. Moreover, don’t forget to modify privacy settings of your social media account. Make sure your personal information and status uploads are accessible only by your friends list. Avoid befriending unknown people on social media for your own safety.
Even when you don’t share any personal information on your own, your mobile apps will track down your activities when you’re connected to internet. For instance, social media applications such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook messenger share the details with your contacts when you were last online.
Similarly, Google Maps, Snapchat and Facebook track your current location and share this information with your friends circle. These apps aim to provide you a better experience by collecting information. However, if burglars get their hands on this confidential information, they can harm you.
Conclusion
Social media can hamper your privacy and make you vulnerable to online theft. You should try to refrain from sharing personal information or your current location on social sites. Aside from these precautions, it’s best to install an effective home security system. It’ll help you monitor the premise and alert you in time to protect your home from burglars.