Lawsuit Financial Safety Report

 Are you Facebook Friends with a Predator?

By: Jennifer Geiringer, Chief Marketing Officer

In our technologically driven world, social media has become a popular way for people to share their lives with friends and family.  As of October 2014, Facebook has 864 million daily active users; people are posting anything from family photos to what they ate for dinner.   The scenarios seem innocent enough - you are out for a weekend bike ride and decide to stop at the corner and take a photo of the kids.  You post it on Facebook with the headline “neighborhood bike ride”.  Your aunt across the country sees it and comments “Can’t wait to see you all soon. We miss the windy city!” 

That evening, you crawl into your cozy bed, not realizing that the photo posted of your children that day, coupled with photos posted in years past, provides a frightening amount of information to a potential predator.  For example, you didn’t notice the visible street signs in the background of the photo, identifying the intersection you labeled your “neighborhood”; you thought nothing of the fact that your family member mentioned “the windy city”, further identifying your location. 

What you have failed to consider is the possibility that one single photo may have revealed, TO A PREDATOR, the city and the intersection where you and your family live.  And, consider this:  A quick review of other photos in your albums may disclose additional identifying criteria.  For instance, back-to-school photos taken in front of the school’s nameplate or the district’s labeled school bus, others showing your child wearing school insignia, or the ones at the tail end of your car (inadvertently displaying your license plate) provide too much information.  And, once predators have any of these key pieces of information, they can find your child, your home, your schedule, your soccer practice, your grocery store; they may appear at that vulnerable moment when you look away for just one minute.  That is all it takes.

Look:  I get it - your children are adorable, irresistible even; you want to show them off to everyone, but is it really worth the risk of exposing them to danger on social media sites?   You may be reasoning with yourself, resolving that your Facebook page is set to private and you are acquainted with all your Facebook friends.  According to Pewresearch.org, the average number of Facebook friends is 338.  Can you really say, with certainty, that you trust them all?  When was the last time you saw them?  How many do you really know or trust with your kids’ safety?  One of my “friends”, from my high school days, was recently caught on a store surveillance camera holding his phone and taking photos under the skirt of a 13-year-old girl; he was arrested and is now a registered sex offender.  Had he not been caught, would I have continued to “friend” him?  Do you honestly know how “friends” have changed over the years or what they are currently capable of?  Would you send this guy a picture of YOUR daughter in front of her school?

   

Your concerns don’t end at your Facebook friends either.  If your child is tagged in someone else’s photo, they are accessible to all the friends of the tagger and tagged. Therefore, if tagged in a photo with 7 other tagged friends, the photo is available to all 7 people’s friends as well.  According to the averages, a photo of 8 people can be viewed by almost 3,000 people, most of whom are not your “friends”.   So, when it comes to posting pictures of your family on social media sites, use your common sense. I encourage you to STUDY any family photo before posting.  Does it give away too much information?  Does it pinpoint a location?  Does it compromise the safety of your kids?  If you have any doubts at all, don’t post!