Do you use an app like FourSquare or GoWalla to tweet out your location? I’m guilty of this – I’m Mayor of both my favorite bar and coffee shop. When I visit a new location, that information gets sent to Twitter. I’m a little different from most people – since I am twittering my location, I send it to my private and locked Twitter account. Since I approve all of my followers at that account, I’m minimizing the risk of unwanted stalking.
Do you list your home on FourSquare? I have to admit I’m always a little bit amazed by the people who list “Jones Home” and then their address. Really? I work out of my home, but my mailing address is a PO Box. I will occasionally use FourSquare to show I’m at my office, but the location that shows up is the PO Box, not my house. Again, I’m minimizing the unwanted stalking.
Today on Twitter, there’s been a lot of buzz (forgive the pun) about PleaseRobMe.com. The site wants you to be aware of what you’re doing when you tweet to the world that you’re not home.
According to the site creators,
The danger is publicly telling people where you are. This is because it leaves one place you’re definitely not… home. So here we are; on one end we’re leaving lights on when we’re going on a holiday, and on the other we’re telling everybody on the internet we’re not home. It gets even worse if you have “friends” who want to colonize your house. That means they have to enter your address, to tell everyone where they are. Your address.. on the internet.. Now you know what to do when people reach for their phone as soon as they enter your home. That’s right, slap them across the face.
So the message here is think before you tweet. After all, do you really want to be featured in the stream on PleaseRobMe?
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Cheers!
Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by her day job.
Discussion
Miiko Mentz17 February 2010 8:03 pm
Michelle, I’m with you on trying to minimize the stalker opportunities by not always providing your whereabouts, which is why I never really used brightkite after signing up and why I’ve been hesitant to sign up for Gowalla and Foursquare. I think for most women the stalker issue is more concerning then the robbery risk, but that concerns me, too.
I don’t know if the person (or people) behind PleaseRobMe set it up as a joke or are serious, but a major flaw in it is that it assumes we all live alone, which is simply not the case. Most of us live with others and just because we’re not home doesn’t mean the house is empty and unprotected because our families and/or roommates are often home when we’re not; and let’s not forget the dogs, neighbors and alarm system.
Regardless of whether it was set up as a joke or a serious site, PleaseRobMe is raising awareness and that’s a good thing. I have a friend (who will remain nameless) who I see tweeting all the time when he’s out of town on business trips and it always makes me think “you just told the whole world your wife and young child are home alone for the next few days.” Not that she can’t take care of herself, but you get my point.
Glad you blogged about this because I think we all need to be careful in what we share and what we choose to keep private for our own safety and that of our family and friends. Good post Michelle!