Earlier this week, I wrote about a prediction that homeowners' insurance rates might rise because of location-based services like Foursquare, Loopt, and even Twitter. In brief, some are worried that check-ins and posts about your whereabouts (i.e., not at home) might entice would-be burglars who know your house is empty.
To be honest, I'm not too concerned about this, though maybe I should be. I'm not a compulsive Foursquare user, but I do use the service from time to time. What about you? Do you worry about your home's safety because of your social media activity?
J by Jasper Conran
Chantelle
La Perla
I'm not necessarily concerned because I follow (my) rules for Social Media, which, although I am a frequent FourSquare user, Yelper, Flickr member, and Geo-tagger....I still shy away from revealing where I actually live.
1I really am weary of location track-ware, but its necessary for the sake of safety when you get lost somewhere unfamiliar.
2Um, if you don't say where you live, the only people who will know are your friends.
Don't do it.
Privacy settings exist for a reason. Be smart.
If your full name is on twitter and you push foursquare to twitter, it's just stupid. You're asking for it!
For "normal" users, your friends are the only ones who can ID you and it's fine!
3I use foursquare and twitter but I'm not concerned because there is almost always someone home at my house (my retired aunt). I don't "check in" at home on foursquare and I certainly don't have my home address posted on my twitter. I don't even like to say what city I actually live in, I usually say the nearest big city (Chicago).
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