This may be the last FourSquare check-in that I do. It came at a high cost, one that was very unexpected.
As an avid blogger and social media practitioner I utilize a wide variety of social media channels both personally and professionally. Being the Type-A personality that I am, I don’t do anything half-ass, so when I am on a social channel, I’m on it. Not only does it help build an online profile that aids my presence as a blogger, it builds credibility for my chosen career as well. Just take a look at the social media related job openings for many companies out there and you will see requirements for presences on all sorts of social media platforms as well as Klout score minimums (many companies have not caught on to Kred yet).
I have written before about being careful how you represent yourself on social media, it can not only cost you your job, it can prevent you from getting one in the first place. In my case, I am cognizant of my company’s (which is similar to many other company’s) social media guidelines and I don’t use my blog to discuss religion, politics, sex, drugs or any other topic that would make my employer uncomfortable (that can change from employer to employer). The bottom line is that you are never “off,” you are always representing your employer if you participate in social media and its something you should not forget.
But my proficiency and ambition to utilize the channels to their fullest extent has now come at a personal cost and it is an important lesson and a good reminder to others out there who might find themselves in my shoes.
Last Thursday evening I flew to Las Vegas to meet Mr. Misadventures before getting on the road and heading back to Utah/Arizona. It’s a trip I will blog about when I finish getting through my awesome Napa trip (see, I am totally anal, I need to blog my trips in the order they happened!).
We knew that we weren’t going to have a lot of food options once we left Las Vegas so we decided to go out to a nice dinner. I got a recommendation from my new pal Abby, the editor-in-chief of Vegas Magazine who I had met (and fell in love with) on my Trafalgar San Francisco/Napa trip. If there was anyone’s suggestion to take it was Abby’s, especially after she said that Raku was a favorite spot of hers (that meant she had good taste in my book!).
Abby told me her favorite spot on the strip is Yellowtail at Bellagio, so I made a reservation and Mr. Misadventures and I headed there to try it out. I checked in on FourSquare which also pushed a tweet to Twitter. We sat down at our table and ordered a drink. As we waited for them to arrive, one of the hostesses came to our table and said I had a personal phone call. She indicated that it was against restaurant policy to allow a customer use the phone so she asked the caller (a male) to provide a message.
The note from a man named Roy was a bizarre half-finished message (the hostess said he hung up before providing a complete telephone number). I was so confused by what was happening that I don’t remember the whole thing. It was something like, “This is Roy from the future”….words…words…and then something about a martini and then part of a phone number that I think started with 920.
I don’t know a Roy. I don’t have any male friends that would call me. I don’t have friends that would call me on any other number than my cell phone. The only person who knew I was coming to the restaurant was Abby and if she wanted to get a hold of me she would tweet or email me and not leave a bizarre message. The only thing I had done was check in on FourSquare and tweet that out.
It was just plain weird and very disturbing. You could have the most solid marriage in the world and something like that could put a crack of doubt into its exterior wall.
The whole thing was so upsetting that we ended up leaving the restaurant before even finishing our drinks. The evening had been contaminated and I felt violated.
I have blogging friends who don’t blog about being gone on vacation. And others who check-in only after they are leaving a location. I have never thought twice about my own personal safety when it came to my social media activities.
It seems I have had a very mild, albeit alarming, incident which has made me rethink how I will approach my activities in the future. I wanted to share this experience in the hopes that it can prevent one of you from having something similar or worse happening to you.
How about you? Have you ever had a bad experience related to your social media activities?
YIkes. That does feel creepy. Just last week I got a text from some unknown person inviting me to Skype with him for a ‘sexy’ chat. I ignored it but he/she had my phone number. I was sort of paralyzed. I checked ALL my profiles to see if my phone number was showing and the next morning I crept onto Skype and tried to find him via this weird name. Nothing. I kept his phone number and named him “Weirdo” so I won’t accidentally answer. But.
So, I totally understand how you feel. And, it does bring us back to that point of wondering how much we should really be sharing!
@Walker, that sounds super scary. Someone on your actual phone! I know there are profiles where I may have my phone listed (although marked as private) but these days it doesn’t seem to matter. Have you read the latest edition of Wired about their own reporter being hacked? Nothing is safe and we just keep putting more and more of our life out online – I am definitely going to change some of the things I do from now on.
Andi,
I did read that article and vowed to revisit all my passwords, but didn’t. It’s a challenge because as a freelance writer I need people to be able to find me.
Just this morning I found my name mentioned w/ a friend I had dinner w/ last night. She uses Foursquare! I thought I’d fixed Facebook settings to keep me from being tagged, but apparently not.
I hope you’ll blog about some of your changes–it will help some of us think about the larger implications.
@Walker, I am tightening up security for sure! You have to keep up on FB all the time, their setting are always shifting! Also, I am not going to do FB and TW authentications for anything that I can do an email and password for – much more secure that way.
I have a similar struggle with social media. Every promotion from hotel chains, opportunity to “win” a freebie, it seems to be associated with giving the company involved full access to your life. I have reluctantly recently joined Foursquare to take advantage of the current SPG promotion which offers bonus points for checking in via Foursquare. However, once I started I became obsessed with recording every check in. Given your experience I am going to back off unless there is some measurable reward such as SPG points. Nothing on this planet will get me lured into Twitter. It’s nothing more than mindless babble.
@Vicky, there are definite benefits to FourSquare too – I can’t tell you how many times I have forgotten the name of someplace I went and done back in my history on FourSquare to find it. I am thinking I may check-in to places after I leave, but I haven’t checked-in all week. I have also benefited from check-in specials too, SPG, Amex etc and there that reward side too that is hard to resist. I have stopped giving out personal info at stores when they ask you to be on mailing lists, etc. I have gotten about 7 class-action lawsuit rewards after those companies illegally sold my info, I just don’t do it anymore!
Ohhhhhhhhhh my gosh!! Oh my gosh. I also have friends who won’t say where they are until they are back home. I fall in the middle — I have never checked in anywhere in my life, but I am always tweeting and Insta-gramming. That is beyond! I am so sad you missed out on the tuna pizza. But I promise it will be worth the wait when I drag you there in January.
@Abby, it was icky, but I have no doubt the pizza will draw me back in!
OMG. My husband would have absolutely FLIPPED out, Andi. I totally understand how it ruined your evening. How very upsetting. I feel sick for you. You’re so generous and kind and smart. Big hugs!!!! And, thanks for being so transparent with the warning. UGH!!
@Jen, thanks for the support, it was pretty weird. So many strange people in the world who do strange things motivated by lord knows what.
I never leave personal info on the internet, But a friend of mine showed a friend my picture on his facebook page. This fool started sitting on my roof. Only stopped because he fell off during a rainstorm.
@Heather, given that your email address contains a reference to cats, I’ll consider that a joke
I don’t even know what to say!!! This is so horrible.
Reminds me of something that happened to my husband and I on my Birthday last year. I received a hug bouquet of flowers. Very expensive and gorgeous. The card said from: Tomas. I was so embarrassed, because I had no idea who this Tomas was and my husband was outraged because he thought a man had sent me flowers. Turns out my friend had written on the electronic card “TQMAS” and the company thought she meant Tomas. TQMAS stands for Te Quiero Mas or I love you more in spanish. She was trying to be cute, but wow could that have really hurt our marriage!!! I hope your hubby wasn’t too upset?
Yikes! I have not had that kind of experience with social media. With Foursquare, I am only connect with my personal friends and I usually check-in after I have left a place. Unless it is a business/networking event, I don’t post Foursquare to Facebook or Twitter. I am nervous about letting too many people know my comings and goings.
That sounds really scary! I had never thought about my safety (at all). My husband and I had a little mishap with a check-in this weekend ourselves, but it was just embarrassing….
@Corinna, it definitely has me thinking about things differently.
@Clara, sounds like you were more cautiuous than I was, I will be more careful from now on!
@AndiP, people might not realize what its like to live with a man from a romance-language country!!! Glad it all worked out for you.
That’s totally frightening. I think that’s one big reason I resist FourSquare. I just don’t want everyone in the world to know where I am — or that I’m not at home — at a given moment. It’s TOO MUCH INFORMATION.
@Carolyn, totally get it. For me, as I work in the profession, I have to balance keeping a well-rounded profile with personal security.
My blog has a 1-2 week lag, so I use HootSuite to program my tweets. So far, I’ve only had very confused friends who are also readers and who wanted to know why I was in the Basque country, when they thought I had left for Botswana. I think I’ll keep it that way now that I’ve read your tale….
@Sylvia, seems like a smart thing to do!
Wow – freaky! I would not have thought about that being an issue, but I’ll take the warning. (I’m not very savvy anyway).
@Jennie, it is always good to be safe and if you can learn lessons from other people about what not to do, all the better
Ok yikes, I’m going to think twice about my check-ins now. I always knew something like that was a possibility but unlikely. All it takes is one story like this to turn my head straight! Thanks for sharing this with us. Did this person ever try to reach you again?
@Lindsey, no they didn’t and I am wary of him now. I am now checking into places as I leave and have not always checked in to all the hotels I am staying at. I am more careful now for sure!
This is very creepy and to be honest, something I hadn’t really thought about! I’m starting to think more about things before hitting the keys, dialing the phone or posting the snapshot…..I’m like Carolyn(posted above) It’s just TMI and I don’t want people knowing when no one is home or we’re on vacation
That is so creepy! I’ve never had anything like that happen to me, thankfully.
That would scare me for sure . Its like stalking you. We must be so careful with what info we let others know. I just seen 2 TV shows this week about this sort of thing. Makes you really think long and hard.
The world is full of all kinds of people
I think sometimes we don’t think of all of those things we are sharing not only with friends and family but also with the “weirdos” and “stalkers” out there. As women we have to be that much more careful to protect ourselves and our children.