Book Excerpt: Chapter 41 - Post Where You Were
Unlike most safety books, I don’t spend much time here on preventing financial crime. Identity theft sucks, but it’s not a direct threat to family safety. The same goes for burglaries, stolen cars, and purse snatching. Also, there are plenty of really great resources about stopping property crime.
In this chapter, though, I will talk about how social media posts link to crime. Most of the time those are property crimes, but poor timing and some bad luck can escalate them into home invasions, assaults, and even murder.
How It Started
On a visit to the grandparents’ house in the next town over, you take a series of photos. They show grandpa reading a book, grandma showing them how to garden, and the spread at the picnic table in the backyard. Everybody is smiling. The sun is just right.
In a quiet moment, you post a spread of your favorites with a heartfelt and beautiful message about how much you love getting all three generations together.
All of your friends like it. Many comment to say hi to your parents, who many of them have met over the years.
For another take, your college-age daughter goes out with her friends on a Saturday night. It’s a festival of mild debauchery starting with dinner and moving through a half-dozen clubs and bars on the strip near campus. They wrap things up at a friend’s apartment for a few more drinks, then crashing on whichever couches are nearest.
She documents the entire thing, posting selfies from her dorm room getting ready, of the squad gathering in the lobby, at dinner, on the street, at each club, and on the way home.
Her friends across the world celebrate the night with her, commenting live. A video of a drunken headstand even goes viral.
How It’s Going
Both of the situations seem innocuous, even common. But, from a safety standpoint, they’re not safe.
The photos from the family gathering tell anybody looking that you’re not home. Modern burglars case houses on social media, looking for photos of where the owners keep their valuables. If they see that you’re gone for the night, it’s an open invitation.
Again, that’s property crime. But what if you come home in the middle of it? Or if you’re at grandma’s but your 14-year-old son stayed home alone?
I won’t go into detail about the risks involved with a young woman posting her location and level of inebriation publicly in real time. Now that we’re thinking about it in this particular way, I’m sure your imagination can manage that on its own.
The point is t this: Criminals have access to your feed. Some can use information there to hurt your family. We shouldn’t give them that information.
How To Do It
There’s a simple rule that keeps us safe while still letting us celebrate and share our best moments across social media.
Post where you’ve been, not where you are.
The best way to apply this is to wait until an event is over. Whether it’s a night out, a weekend with the grandparents, or a two-week vacation, store your pictures and post them once you’ve returned home. That time lag resolves most of the security issues associated with this risk.
Not everybody is happy to do that. Posting more frequently is part of how they enjoy their time in the world. If that’s you, try posting at the end of each day. On a multi-day trip, assemble the best images and make a single post about how great that particular day was.
At the very least, avoid posting in real time. On a pub crawl, for example, post about the second bar while you’re in the third. This still broadcasts that you’re not at home, but at least it won’t tell stalkers and assorted creepers where you are right now.