Protecting Your Home Starts With Social Media

Protecting Your Home Starts With Social Media
Your friends are at Chipotle for lunch. A few of your relatives are on vacation in Miami. A friend of yours just bought a brand new iPad. How do you know all of this? Because they all updated their Facebook or Twitter statuses about it. That’s the problem with social media. Everyone knows everyone’s business. Even robbers! Burglars are now shopping on social media websites to find homes that are unoccupied.

They can literally access places you’ve checked into on Facebook to see if you are home or not. They can look through your Intstagram feed to find things that they want in your house. Sounds scary, right? That’s because it is! Social media can be fun, but it can also be dangerous. Protect your home by following a few guidelines when on any social site.

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Don’t post too many pictures.

The obsession with posting pictures on every social media site has got to end! Do you really need all 34 albums on your Facebook page? Probably not. Yes, your kids are adorable. But if you keep posting pictures of them inside your home, it just gives everyone a clear view of your valuables. Sure, it might be cute that your son is playing with the dog in the living room. But a burglar can sift through your pictures and eye that flat screen on your wall or the laptop on your coffee table. The next thing you know, your home has been broken into and you’re left wondering why.

Don’t check-in everywhere you go.

First of all, no one is really dying to know where you went for breakfast. Checking-in has become a very popular trend among social media sites. It doesn’t do anything but tell people that you are anywhere but home. After a burglar has targeted something he wants inside your house from your Instagram pictures, he can simply wait for you to check-in to the nail salon for a spa day or a restaurant for lunch. Then, he makes his move on your house. The last thing you want is to get back home and find out that all of your valuables have been stolen!

Keep all of your social media sites private.

This is so important! People automatically assume that their social media site can only be seen by their “friends” or “followers.” However, if you don’t go into your settings and manually make your profile private, anyone and everyone has access to your info. CEO Dwayne Stoltzfus at Smith Monitoring says that 3 out of 5 robbers use a social media site to target their next home. Don’t let your home be a victim! If you haven’t already, make your site’s settings private. This keeps your information secure.

People who want to see your Facebook or Twitter need to send a request first. That way, you can make sure you aren’t sharing your information with the entire world.

If you aren’t going to be home, don’t tell the social media world about it. On vacation? Wait to get home to update your status about it. Be aware of what you are posting and who has access to your pictures and statuses. Keep your home safe from online burglars!

Carly is a dog loving, coffee drinking, and book reading kind of girl. She also is an avid blogger for Smith Monitoring.

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