Just like Facebook and Foursquar, Twitter is a great way to connect with friends, clients, or family members. What you may not know is that it is also a great way to get yourself robbed. You may just tweet that your at the mall or on vacation but other may see this as an opportunity to make an unwanted visit to your property.
According to Mashable Social Media out of fifty ex-robbers in the UK, 80% of them used a form of social media to target where they would rob. Too me, that stat is very disturbing. What was more disturbing is that 73% said they used Google street view to see the property or house that they would later rob. Not only do they know when you are out of the house or town, they can find out the best way to get into your house just by sitting on their computer.
There are five easy steps to improve your safety from these social media using thieves. First set your Facebook privacy setting to only where your friends can see. Two, only add friends that you actually know and feel comfortable adding. Another way is not to announce too the world you going on vacation. Four, don't post photos that show your address or other places of your house that could be used to help thieves. And lastly, don't post pictures of expensive nice things at your house.
I know people like to let the world know what they are doing, but help yourselves out. After seeing these numbers, I know I am not going post every time I leave my house.
http://mashable.com/2011/11/01/social-theivery-infographic/
My family is extra big on not posting anything to Facebook or Twitter when we are going to be out of town. I always thought they were just being extra cautious but I guess this actually happens to people. It is disturbing to me to see how much personal information people can gather about other people on the internet, particularly from Facebook. I agree with what you said about setting your profile to private and not announcing when you are going out of town.
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