Social Media Scenario: Facebook Neighborhood Group

I urge people to think about how the information they post on social media sites could be used against them.  I suggest living by these two simple rules.  1.  Assume a stranger with bad intentions will read your post, meaning they will see and have access to the information.  2.  Think about the worst case scenario of how that information could be used against you and decide if you could live with the outcome before you post.  

I often see posts on Facebook and other social media sites I see as potentially dangerous and wonder if others see things in the same light.  Figured I would use one of the posts I have seen recently in the neighborhood group we are a part of on Facebook as an example.  Names, occupations, etc. have been changed to protect the innocent.

A new family moved in and the wife posted that her family was new to the neighborhood.  She said her husband was a plumber and she was a school teacher.  She then provided the names and ages for each of her children along with her and her husband's name.  Quite a few people welcomed them to the neighborhood and some of you might be asking how is this a bad post.  They introduced themselves to the neighbors and pointed out the husband was a plumber in case someone may need his assistance.  Well, let's think about the worst case scenario for a moment.  If someone subscribed to the neighborhood group was a pedophile, they could potentially use this personal information to abduct one of her children.  The pedophile could say to one of the children, "I know your dad, Joe, because we met at work."  "He is stuck on a plumbing job and he asked me to pick you up, because your mom, Jane, is picking up your brother, Joe Jr. from school"  How would a young child potentially not fall for this?  The pedophile can prove to the child they are a friend of the family, because they know the mother and father's name as well as her brother's.  This family could have introduced themselves to the neighborhood in a more safe manner.  She could have said me, my husband, and children are new to the neighborhood and would like to say hi.  My husband is a plumber, so if you ever need assistance with your plumbing needs please let us know.

Like I said in the beginning of the post, always think about how the information you post could be used against you.  Assume the information will fall into the hands of someone with malicious intentions and think of the worst case scenario before you post anything.  If you can live with the worst outcome, then go ahead and post the information.  If you can't live with the worst case scenario though, I would urge you to rephrase/rework the post until you can live with the worst outcome or avoid posting the information all together.  Like all things, you should weigh the positive and negative of the actions about to take place.  If the negative far outweighs the positive, it probably isn't worth it.