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Detailed Facebook postings during trips can sow discord among couples and envy among coworkers.
Facebook is a fun way to connect with friends and family, but it can sometimes be tough on relationships — especially when it comes to sharing vacation stories.
Sometimes one person in a couple shares online a lot of details about upcoming vacations or vacations you've just come back from, while the other doesn't, thinking it's T.M.I. (too much information).
For some, it's about safety. It may be deeply unnerving when your sweetheart posts on Facebook about upcoming vacations. A spouse might say, "I don't think it should be public knowledge about when we're out of town." Or, more sarcastically, "Why don't you post a giant sign advertising to robbers the best time to break in to our place?"
There's a serious point here. Say your house is, in fact, robbed while you're on vacation. True, there aren't any known cases of an insurer invalidating someone's homeowners' policy because the policyholder broadcasted his or her vacation whereabouts via social networks. But that day is coming. U.K. insurance website Confused.com is warning people they could eventually face hikes in their home insurance premiums if they use social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook to reveal vacation information and then they're burglarized.
For others travelers, the worry is about hurting the feelings of family and friends with the news of your vacation. Consider the story of Budget Traveler reader Noah Cole:
My wife and I recently spent 3 weeks in South Africa during my sabbatical. Facebook and Twitter were great for keeping people up to date while traveling — it is amazing to be on safari in Africa, take a photo of a lion with my iPhoto and upload to Facebook via a 3G connection for instant viewing by people around the world. Many people thanked me for the photos and liked to live vicariously through them. Others, however, were clearly a bit jealous and didn't hesitate to let me know that they didn't appreciate having to see me on sabbatical while they were sitting at work.
My wife and I also had several disagreements while there and again once we were back while choosing photos to post about the amount of information I was sharing via Facebook. My view was that I should be able to choose which photos and what information to post for my friends, relatives and colleagues. Her view was that since I'm friends with many of her friends and family, I need to respect her wishes for what is shared. Ultimately I agreed not to post a few specific photos, but it is a tricky area.
Key points to make here are that you need to understand the latest privacy settings. Have you talked with your traveling partner about what's okay to share and not share online? Are you sure that only your immediate friends and family can see your whereabouts?
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Leave a Comment:
I can see how this could be a concern among people who have hundreds of friends that they don't even know. I regularly post about my vacations on FB, and I post photos daily while on vacation. However, I only have people I personally know on my FB, and we have a house-sitter when we travel, so I'm not particularly concerned about robbery, since the house is always occupied. Besides, anything of value ends up going on vacation with me (laptop, camera). Everything else is incidental.
As for that last bit... if anyone on my FB page is jealous or unhappy that I am able to vacation at that time and they are not, then they are free to unfriend me or block my posts. I'm certainly not going to be ashamed or secretive about my vacations because someone might be insecure about their own lives.
I don't post to rub it into people's faces. I post because many of my friends are travelers and we enjoy each other's photos. There are plenty of people who cannot travel the way I do, and I understand that, but it is ultimately not my problem, just as it's not my friend's problem that I cannot do the things they do or have the things they have. True friends are happy for you regardless, not snarky and rude because they have to be at work while you're on vacation.
Misery loves company. Some people just love to whine.
OH Melanie, You must be one of those "rich" that don't pay your fair share... (Tongue in cheek humor attempt).
I post a few things, but it is sharing and if someone gets bent because I might have the ability to go to a few places; work as hard as I did, get and education(using student loans that EVERYONE CAN get) and you too could do it!
Really, do people think their lives are so important that they need to make sure everyone knows what they're doing every minute of the day? I have a friend who posts incessantly about every move her dogs make. Save it for the Christmas letter, people!
Does someone from high school that you haven't even talked to for 20+ years need to know you're going out to the country? I'm not sure why people would post stuff like that on facebook, it certainly does invite the potential of a burglary.
What I do is create a private blog and give access to close friends and family. That way I won't get those random phone calls going "So how's the weather out there?!" I post the days events before I go to sleep and people leave comments/questions/recommendations for activities. It lets me update them on what's happening without announcing everything I do in real time. I usually don't post photos unless it's something spectacular either. I save those for when I return home.
That's a great way of doing it. Those who care can look and those who don't care, don't have to. You can also use Facebook groups.
Um, why is someone from high school whom you haven't talked to in 20+ years on your Facebook Friends list? It seems the problem is not the broadcast of details about your vacation but that the two of you really need to rethink why you're paying attention to each other in the first place.
This is what Facebook groups are for. You can let your immediate friends and family who care know about your plans while excluding the college and HS classmates you treat as casual acquaintances. You can also post the photo album when you get back and those folks can look if they want. Sadly far too many people have no idea or care to know how to tweak their privacy and group settings. Facebook has great tools, but you have to keep abreast of changes and think before you post.
Those folks who leave their Facebook comments open to the world - well if they get robbed because of it, it really is their fault, but if you use privacy settings it would be one of your 'friends' ratting you out to the thief - but honestly, I've seen tons of people go on vacation without using a mail or newspaper hold or in some other way leave signs their house is vacant.