Christmas week has arrived and with thousands of people expected to take to the roads for Christmas and New Year gatherings, AA Home Insurance is reminding travellers not to broadcast their plans on social media sites and to remember that their stream of content and updates can be highly viral through their circle of friends and followers and in turn their collective networks.
This seasonal advice comes following an AA Home Insurance study conducted earlier in the year which revealed that in the region of 10% of those active on social media in Ireland have at some stage alluded to their travel plans online. During the same study, 8% of participants also indicated that while they personally had not made the faux pas, someone else within their household had done so.
The AA is also encouraging parents to ask their teenage children to be mindful of what they post this Christmas. 42.6% of 17 to 24 year olds who participated in the AA Home Insurance poll admitted to indiscriminately broadcasting their travel plans and the AA fears this figures be considerably higher among the more naive teenage demographic.
The AA is also advising social media users around the country to think twice before posting photos or videos which might give a hint as to their home address. There are a lot of images of people’s Christmas trees and outdoor Christmas lights going up on the likes of Facebook at the moment.†Comments John Farrell, Director of AA Insurance. It’s wonderful to spread the Christmas cheer but just be careful, if you haven’t adjusted your security settings, you could be sharing your house number, house name, vehicle registration and even street sign with people you simply don’t know. AA Home Insurance is also appealing to those using check-in style sites such as Foursquare and Facebook Places not to list their home as a location.
