First, one thing I that I do for the safety of my things back here is that I do not include my home address or phone number on social networking sites. People that need to know that do, people that don’t have it, don’t need to know it is my theory

Another thing I would say is that things like what happened to “tom” are just as likely to happen to people you meet while traveling and not first on social networking sites. I lived in Australia for six months during a semester abroad and when traveling during breaks or after my semester, I often met fellow travelers.

Luckily, I met trustworthy fellow travelers, but I could just have easily met those similar to the ones Tom met and could have ended up with the same results. I don’t think this is necessarily a problem to people meeting others on social networking sites first. I think the main danger with people you meet on these sights is that since we have “known” them for a while before we meet face to face, we tend to be more trusting of them than those who we’ve just met traveling.

So I guess my main advice would be to remember that no matter how long you’ve known someone online, you pretty much have to treat them as a stranger until you’ve had time to assess their character in person. Just my thoughts

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I have been incredibly lucky to have wholly positive ecounters throughout my travels, even the people I’ve met online. But it’s really interesting that you point out the link to domain name ownership details.

I can honestly say that that has NEVER occurred to me before – holy cow, makes me a little uneasy actually, must change it asap! Thanks for the tips.

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Thanks for the great post, really interesting and valuable. We are intrigued by how the move from web 2 to 3 will embrace the all-important trust issue. I don’t feel this has had anywhere near the focus it deserves.

As social networking becomes such a big part of our lifestyle it impacts how we travel, but perhaps we should look at how we use social media throughout our lives, including when travelling?

Of course when travelling your are often more vulnerable as you’re away from home and not as familiar with your environs. That said, it’s vital not to travel in a bubble – otherwise what’s the point of travelling?! So it’s got to be a balance.

My tips would be:

– Do as much research as you can before you go
– Connect with someone trusted who you know or has been recommended by someone trusted
– Do be warm and open towards new people but know the boundaries and stay sober (unless you’re with well-known, trusted friends who’ll watch your back/bag).

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Hi, Darren – when I’m going on holiday these days I try to wait until I’m home before posting images online and before mentioning it to folks. Not sure that I succeed in this 100%, but I feel that it’s too scary nowadays to leave much of a footprint which says “house is empty and the business is unattended”.

As someone who doesn’t watch the comings and goings of friends and neighbours particularly well, it always stuns me when I realise how much we are always watched.

Keep safe.
Margaret

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Thankfully, I have met some wonderful people on my travels and have never put myself into the position where I could be robbed. I would never think about using websites like couchsurfing because it is so unsecure staying in someone else’s home that you do not know that well.

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I think anyone stupid enough to leave their home address anywhere on the internet deserves to be burgled. I have a big concern over the usage of sites like Bebo, MySpace and Facebook, to the point that I have banned our teenage children from using them.

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Great discussion starter, and it’s very interesting to read what other travellers have experienced. I’ve been on the road for 18 mos and have only had positive, encouraging experiences thus far (here’s to hoping it stays that way!). While many guys I know do love couchsurfing, a few horror stories from female friends was enough to keep me away. That said, I do try and go to their city ‘meetups’ when I get a chance, as it’s a great way to meet a group of people, without having to crash in their house With Facebook’s new privacy policy changes, travellers will have more control over who gets to see their information, but that requires taking the time to filter through your profile. It’s worth it, though.

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The accounts that we’ve came across in regard to couchsurfing (and social networking alternatives) when researching an article on the topic were almost universally positive, which is proof that, while there’s no need to be paranoid, it pays to offset the risks by not foregoing the due diligence of digging a little bit deeper into who you might be staying with. There are risks inherent in everything — the best thing to do is to mitigate them as much as possible. In my opinion, one can be too careful — some risks are okay to take, as long as you enter into them cautiously, knowingly and willingly. Our post, if you are interested, may be found here

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Maya said: “…my main advice would be to remember that no matter how long you’ve known someone online, you pretty much have to treat them as a stranger until you’ve had time to assess their character in person.”

Yes, sweetie, and you have just also made the case as to why social networking sites are basically a worthless pile of you-know-what because there are indeed so many fake and hijacked names and so many using it as a way to steal, defraud and otherwise harm other people.

As to the people who use it as a tool in their efforts to blog, it’s also just as questionable for much the same reason.

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Be careful of scaremongering here, Darren. You have one bad Facebook story and you’ve heard one Couchsurfing story (and have no concrete details for either). I have heard many more about bad experiences in hostels or being on the road in general. Yet we don’t give up on hostels or independent travel, because 99% of the time they provide wonderful, social, trusting experiences.
That said I think it is good to air this old subject every once in a while. Reminds us all to be careful and use our common sense. I wrote a few travel-networking safety tips here

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Yeah, in fairness, you’re not scaremongering – you were just telling the tales and opening up to others to make their conclusions. Sorry for that implication. It’s just I’ve seen these debates descend rapidly into scaremongering before. It’s also true that this sort of travel is not failsafe (neither is backpacking) and it doesn’t suit everyone.

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There really is a fine line between being over trusting and over suspicious. Taking risks goes naturally together with travelling and meeting people, so you need to trust other people, but it’s great to read about small things you can do to just minimize the risks a little!

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@ Darren – “Maybe you could explain why people….etc”, and “Let’s get back on topic here: they are dangers for social networks, just as they are dangers meeting people in a bar or club on holiday. ”

But, it is your topic. Right away a woman came on here to start up about “be careful of scaremongering” and I wouldn’t be in the least surprised if she is one (they’re usually women) that rely on the internet and conning people into these situations. I’m not saying that everyone is out to set a trap through social media tools, I’m saying that too many are. Using your own three-dimensional, in-person judgment to assess another person has no substitute. And yes, I’d rather meet someone in a bar or club and use my instinct about them in conversation or other impression any day, and time, than wind up murdered/dead like that British student in Tuscany who they just convicted the American student for her murder of? But some people do get lured by these people into situations like those described in your own blog. Exactly because they forget to rely on their own interpersonal skills rather than fraudsters online. Among the worst frauds of course are those “selling” things – among them, travel websites that do the opposite of your own, since yours is a “whistle-blower” and a good thing too. Others are just out there to sell their press trips experience as objective travel blogging — which of course it’s not — or have other scams going on with things to purchase on their site that they pay no business taxes on.

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Interesting comments and I’m a firm believer that if you are to worry about things then you are more likely for them to occur. I’ve been to some fairly volatile places in the world, and i’ve never encountered any major problems.

Except this one time in Barcelona where on Las Ramblas tried to grab my girlfriends handbag. Fortunately for him she didn’t tell me until after he had gone otherwise he would have had an angry me to deal with!!!!

I think it’s down to being sensible, and trusting instinct, if it feels wrong don’t do it!!!

M

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I think some people get TOO worked up over the dangers of social networking and safety. I know a woman that, when I told her I spend a lot of time on twitter, told me that my house would get robbed and thats why she doesnt use it. Apparently people will see me tweet about not being home, stalk out my house and rob me. Really? Seems like a lot of effort, why not just wait until I go to work?

I think when it comes to travel, you definitely need to be smart, but dont get caught up in the hype.

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I acutally did hear the story about someone who posted that they were on vacation and did return to find their house burglerized. I agree totally that you do not want to put your address or phone number on your profile. Also, do not have your domain information linked to your home either. Thanks for sharing this post, hopefully it will help other to be aware. Thanks, Christopher

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