Facebook While on Vacation

[Trooper]

Hi,

Wondering if anyone here has reservations about posting vacation details to Facebook while traveling. I can't stop thinking that such posts could be used to advertise that our home is unoccupied.

DW enjoys sharing where we are, and I like her to be able to do that, but the paranoia in me thinks it's not such a good idea.

What do you folks do, and am I being overly cautious?

Thanks!

 

[googily]

If her posts are set to only appear to Friends and not Public, the remaining question would be: how much do you trust your "friends"?

 

[Aerides]

My address is not in my profile, never has been. I have as little possible actual data as possible. My posts are private and locked down as much as one can on FB.

I'd be more concerned about putting home lighting on a timer, making sure the house looked occupied, etc.

 

[athena53]

I plead guilty- in fact, I just shared a post from 5 years ago that I'd captioned, "I'm in Paris- and you're not".

My posts are visible only to my Contacts (for whatever that's worth) and FB still lists me as living in my previous city (nearby but across the state line). I enjoy sharing the interesting things I see in my travels, especially now that my husband is gone and I travel solo. No break-ins so far.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I don't as I worry about that too.

 

[JustCurious]

I don't worry about it because I never post on Facebook.

 

[aja8888]

I don't worry about it because I never post on Facebook.

Same here, my vacations are about me relaxing/having fun and that's all that counts.

 

[RunningBum]

If her posts are set to only appear to Friends and not Public, the remaining question would be: how much do you trust your "friends"?

I kind of go back and forth, but mostly I figure this is my protection, that I don't let my posts go totally public.

When I had newspaper delivery I'd worry about my call to stop that, or any other such services, being passed onto someone else who would break in. I didn't want newspapers piling up, but I also didn't want someone I really didn't know to know about this. At least I know who my FB friends are.

Same here, my vacations are about me relaxing/having fun and that's all that counts.

For me part of having fun can be to share pictures and news with friends and family. To each their own about what is fun and relaxing.

 

[mexexpat]

I have reservations about FB period. I deleted my account and simply text, email, Skype-video or phone my family and friends. After I left FB I thought I might miss it or feel out-of-the-loop but I don't. More and more of our contacts are dropping out of FB.

 

[COcheesehead]

How do you expect to make your friends jealous if you don't post great vacation photos?

We post and don't worry about it. We have protections in place at home for the highly unlikely chance someone outside of our trusted friends would figure out where we lived, when we were coming home and what time we'll be there.

 

[flintnational]

I quit using FB a couple of years ago because the Russians where trying to brain wash me with their fake political ads (like that would work). As an aside, strangely, I often find myself craving Russian caviar and vodka.

 

[capjak]

Just set privacy to share to friends and family only or family only, unless of course they are not trust worthy. Of course I assume you let some of your friends/family know you are on vacation anyway.

 

[HI Bill]

It depends on how many, and what type of friends you have, and whether you post publicly or not. I have some 70+ followers, a world-wide set of 500+ 'friends', many of whom are divers I do or don't know. I used to post freely while on vacation, and never had any problems. But my wife is very concerned about our home's security while we're away, so we're waiting to post vacation/travel pics until we return.

 

[capjak]

It depends on how many, and what type of friends you have, and whether you post publicly or not. I have some 70+ followers, a world-wide set of 500+ 'friends', many of whom are divers I do or don't know. I used to post freely while on vacation, and never had any problems. But my wife is very concerned about our home's security while we're away, so we're waiting to post vacation/travel pics until we return.

You can pick the friends (I mean the ones you know)/family that you want to see it you can select 1 friend or several or all friends. You can create a "group" and only share to that group. You can create relatives only etc......

 

[HI Bill]

You can pick the friends (I mean the ones you know)/family that you want to see it you can select 1 friend or several or all friends. You can create a "group" and only share to that group. You can create relatives only etc......

Yes, but I only like to post once, and publicly. I mostly share my underwater photos, land/seascapes, and once in a great while, drone videos. I rarely share people photos. I don't like going back and reposting publicly later (in which case, my real friends would be seeing the posts twice).

 

[SumDay]

I post when I get back, if I do at all. I post very little these days - mainly use it as my "newspaper" see restaurant and activity reviews, and to wish people a happy birthday.

 

[W2R]

I haven't been more than 10 miles from home since our 2012 evacuation for Hurricane Isaac, so it's not much of an issue for me.

Also I only have two Facebook "friends" (family members), my Facebook page is all locked down for privacy, and I seldom post there at all. I have never posted about leaving home before doing so, even for hurricanes. I call them instead so that they don't worry.

 

[Just_Steve]

I don't worry about it because I never post on Facebook.

+1

 

[Ronstar]

I don’t post while on vacation, but my traveling group does tagging me, so I might as well post.

 

[hesperus]

Don't use FB much at all, especially while on vacation, for two reasons -
1) I don't want it on my iphone, allowing it to permeate my daily life, and
2) FB is distracting and takes me out of the moment.

It's like something you have to feed. Ugh

And I never have used my real name on FB. Always use an alias. I only tell who I want to know.

 

[Bir48die]

I don't worry about it because I never post on Facebook.

+1,000

 

[pacergal]

I do post, however my FB is set as private as I can get it. And we always have a house and dog sitter staying in our home when we are gone, someone we know and trust.

 

[kcowan]

They keep a complete record of every IP address that you use to open FB. So, unless you use a VPN, they will know where you are/have been by location time and date. Bastards!

 

[gerntz]

I don't worry about it because I never post on Facebook.

Hows that thing work?

 

[Major Tom]

Don't use FB much at all, especially while on vacation, for two reasons -
1) I don't want it on my iphone, allowing it to permeate my daily life, and
2) FB is distracting and takes me out of the moment.

It's like something you have to feed. Ugh

Absolutely. Your two comments are very closely related, and sum up the problem I have with all forms of social media. To use your words, they have a tendency to permeate many aspects of one's life, and take you out of the moment. I'm something of a hypocrite here, because I use both FB and Twitter, but I find myself wishing that someone would take my FB account away from me - or that FB would die off, so that I can make sure not to sign up for it's successor.

I use Twitter purely for my ham radio activities, and have found it to be very useful for sharing ideas and learning. On Twitter, I rarely stray to other topics (personal, political etc), so it performs quite efficiently for me. FB, on the other hand, is, IMO, a huge mess. There is something very flawed in the way it "connects" people. It's an awful approximation of real life. I really need to stop using it. I have, in the past, posted in support of FB, but my opinion has been changing slowly over the years, as I accumulate more people on my account who I only have a passing interest in. Either that, or I'm quite interested in them, and they don't return the favor. Perhaps they're simply not the type of people who are good at expressing themselves in print, or perhaps they genuinely don't want to communicate. I don't know and, quite frankly, it messes with my head sometimes (but not that much).

On top of that, a slightly loopy woman who I "sort of" dated over 10 years ago, and who keeps trying to check in with me has, after I blocked her, enlisted a close male friend of hers to send me a friend request. The woman is batty. I told her we were completely through, and haven't called her in 10 years. You think someone would get the message, and give up.

Apologies for the thread drift from the original subject of vacation posting.