To think that is someone is on holiday and updating facebook every 10 mins saying what a great time they are having, that they are really not having a great time at all!

[PartyFops]

A friend of mine is on holiday and yes maybe i'm a bit jealous but she has put 15 facebook updates on today alone, and she is only one day 2.

My best holidays have been when I have not felt the need to even look at my phone or ipad!

[Trills]

You are aware that it's been YEARS since statuses started with "Name is..."?

Are you complaining about something that you haven't seen for years, or do your friends actually write their own names at the beginning of their updates?

[kaosak]

makemineamalibue -

BECAUSE IT ONLY TAKES F*** SECONDS TO UPDATE ON YOUR PHONE FGS!!!!!!!!!!!!

omg why does this wind me up so much

and breathe

[mrsjay]

Doesn't take much

[kaosak]

my blood pressure has returned to normal - for now...!

[mignonette]

I have tried telling friends and my stepchildren that announcing your holiday plans right down to length of stay on FoolsBook etc is really stupid behaviour because If I was a burglar, I'd be monitoring them. You have no control over what other 'foolbook friends do with the information you post. It won't be long before insurance companies start refusing a pay out to those who have posted 'empty house' notifications online.

[angelos02]

I'm not of Facebook. Too busy living and enjoying my life.

[mignonette]

I'm not either. And I don't allow my photograph to be put on there. My children know not to put any of me on. It hasn't hampered my social, business or private life in any way either.

[kaosak]

I'm with you TheUglyFuckling.

I knew someone would start spouting all that crap about burglars and empty houses.

ARE YOU KNOWINGLY FRIENDS WITH BURGLARS THEN??!!!! AND DO YOU PUT YOUR ADDRESS ON FB??!!!!

I thought not.

You see there goes my blood pressure again over something that doesn't matter in the great scheme of things

breathes again....

[Pagwatch]

My house isn't empty when I am on holiday.

[mignonette]

Yes Pag but plenty of people do leave their houses empty and broadcast that fact on foolsbook. I do think the insurance companies will get up on that soon.

[mignonette]

Kaosok

As I said, you have no control over the information when it gets out there. And yes, if you do some research you will find some burglars who admit to using this information. You do not have to 'know' burgalrs for this information to swiftly become public domain. Every FB friend is friends w/ other people who are all friends with other people. Information cannot be kept to 'your' little group. Bit like an STD.

I'm not quite sure why taking these precautions and my suggesting them should make you so furious. It is simple common sense. Why broadcast on a forum you have no control over that your house is empty? It's hot brain surgery to see this as sensible caution.

[mignonette]

Sorry posted too soon-

You don't need to put your address on FB for people to figure out where you live either.

[BIWI]

Here's a thing. If you don't like Facebook, why bother using it?

And if you don't use Facebook, please stop slagging it off.

I never understand why people feel the need to criticise something they know next to nothing about

It's the same every time there's a thread about Twitter as well.

You don't have to like or use every form of social media - there are plenty more to choose from!

[mignonette]

I like looking at holiday photos and love the adventures my children go on.

However I think people are very complacent about personal and home security and thinking that because you do not 'know' any burglars or don't post your address, that makes you safe, demonstrates this.

Go speak to some forensic clients/prisoners and you'll see that FB is used to target empty houses. it has been implicated.

[DoJo]

Wow - the combination of people enjoying Facebook in different ways and people enjoying different types of holidays really brings out the antagonistic side of some people. It seems pretty simple to me - if you find Facebook annoying it's because your friends are annoying.

[AmpullaOfVater]

"Even if you do leave your house empty while on holiday, unless you have your actual address on FaceBook then what exactly is the fucking problem?"

Goodness, you're aggressive! As mignonette explained, if you have, say 200 friends, and you shared a picture of your holiday and 10 of your friends 'liked' it, and each other those 10 friends have 200 friends, that means 600 people could see the post and know you're not home. If any of those people had been to your house, then they'd know where you lived. Or, they could just get your name and look you up on 192.com or another directory.

[ziggiestardust]

If a burglar wants to break into your house that badly; they'll do it when you're out at work all day anyway.

I love seeing photos of people's holidays, I like seeing them check into places and then seeing what they think of it so I can try it myself, I like knowing what people are up to. If their status' annoyed me, or the frequency of them at least; I'd minimise them. Anyway, if you've been on Facebook recently you'll see that you can categorise friends according to their closeness to you; so close friend or acquaintance, and you can see more or less of people as you wish.

It's social media. You don't HAVE to like it, or 'get' it.

[AmpullaOfVater]

Well it's totally up to you what you put on social media, of course. But no use burying your head in the sand because it does happen!

One news story (of many) highlighting the problem.

[mignonette]

Look at the houses trashed by parties after details were shared on FB...

Honestly there are some weirdo's on here. People who think that advising caution about posting information on FB automatically means that we begrudge our friends their holidays!

What concrete 'All or nothing' cognitive processes..... Warning about the very real risk of having your house identified as empty because thousands of people are made aware on FB that you have gone away (and it will translate as that many as Ampulla said) does not mean I am anti holiday photos! It may not be one of your casual FB acquaintances or real friends who burgles you, rather somebody who uses the grapevine to discover these things. And you are all being very very naive if you think it does not happen.

Yeeeesssss...Your house could be burgled while you are at work. Yeeesss, not going to work to prevent it would be overly cautious. But not publicising your empty house all over FB can be avoided. It is prudent to avoid making burglaries even easier.

And I for one would resent your insurance claim if you haven't been sensible.