Be Mindful of Your Facebook Status

Today, Facebook announced that the privacy setting for searching your name will be removed from your Facebook privacy options.  This will allow anyone to search for your name.  Recently Facebook has loosened other privacy safeguards and have made the user responsible for ensuring their privacy.  This is why Etler-Kettenacker Agency would like to talk about your Facebook status and how to be mindful of your Facebook status to prevent any losses or unfortunate incidents.

 

Posting the fact that you and/or your family are on vacation or away from home on Facebook is not recommended by experts.  We are all guilty of doing this including yours truly.  We often post photos that have time stamps or captions under the photo on Facebook that show your home is unoccupied.  This is why it is important to be mindful of your Facebook status.  This practice is fairly common sense and is mentioned in the news on occasion.  Etler-Kettenacker Agency just wanted to take a moment to remind everyone to be mindful of your Facebook status as we go into the upcoming holiday season when many people may be travelling for the holidays. 

 

To give you an idea about why it is important to be mindful of your Facebook status; several criminologists interviewed over 100 active burglars and they all stated that they target people who they have studied.  These home invaders pick a person and learn their habits, when the potential victim leaves and arrives home from work and how late they stay out on the weekends.  When the burglar feels comfortable with the target’s routine they strike.  Today, little effort is required to stalk a victim.  A burglar can sit in their own home or library and monitor your every move via social media; Facebook.  This tool to allow intruders to plan their invasions more efficiently has caused an increase in home intrusions.  You may trust all of your Facebook friends but you do not know who is a friend with them that may be able to see your post or read a comment from your friend stating that you will be out of town. 

 

To be mindful of your Facebook statuses simply wait until you return home before posting your vacation pictures.  While away from home do not post on Facebook that you are away, how long you will be away or where you are.  If your children have Facebook accounts let them know not to post on their pages that their family will be away from home.  By being mindful of your Facebook status you can reduce the likelihood that you may become a target of theft.  It’s simple to do but sometimes hard to remember.  This is why Etler-Kettenacker Agency wants to remind everyone to be mindful of your Facebook status.  This concept also applies to other applications such as; Twitter, FourSquare and Path.  Tweets and photographs can also leave clues for home invaders on your whereabouts.  Thinking differently about what we reveal to people about our personal lives is the new way of life; whether we like it or not.