09-May-2011 10:28

How safe are your Facebook & Twitter updates?

Can you resist the temptation to continually update your friends, family and contact lists with your movements?

Do you let the world know where you are, where you’re going & when?

A recent study and research by the Co-operative Travel and Co-operative Insurance warns that burglars & the dishonest can rather easily find you and your home and offices addresses, within minutes, following an online posting of your travel plans, whereabouts and holiday updates...


Some of the messages studied included, ' we are packing our cases’, ‘the minicab is waiting outside’, ‘we are off to the airport’ and 'just landed at…'
A simple surname check and personal details cross-referenced with online address databases can show the location of your home in minutes.

Are you, your kids and partners so addicted to Social Media that you just cannot help but update your contact lists with the minutiae of your daily life, your profile updates and travel plans even when away from work, outside the home or even holidaying overseas?

A survey of 3,000 people threw up the chilling study that almost 55% of them had Facebook friends & Twitter followers that were unknown & unmet & unseen…

I strongly believe that percentage figure to be somewhat conservative and a quick straw poll in our SimplyFone offices showed that the percentage of unmet & unknown contacts & friends on all forms of Social Media was worryingly far higher than 50%..

It seems that when you travel on holiday, it is no longer sufficient just to cancel the newspaper and milk delivery, triple lock your doors and windows and set the lights on time-switches… but it is increasingly important to refrain from advertising your travel plans on your Twitter and Facebook pages & impress upon your children the seriousness of withholding this information too……

Enjoy a safe trip..