The dangers of showing your location on social media

Hey everyone❤️ I put a poll up on my Instagram story last week asking people what they would like me to speak about on my blog. Toxic relationships got the most votes so I spoke about that last Sunday. If you haven’t read it and would be interested in reading it, the post is underneath this one.

Today I am going to speak about the second most voted topic which is why you should not post your location on social media. I will also be talking about how I was followed by someone and how that unfolded.

A lot of us use most social media platforms and there is always an option to show your location or be able to post where you are by tagging the location.

- On Snapchat, there is Snapchat maps that shows your location once you are using the app

- On Instagram, when you take a photo or a video you can tag the location you are at and people can click on it to see where the place is

- On Twitter, there is an option to have your location on and when you tweet your location appears bellow your tweets

- On Facebook, you can also post your location too.

Keeping your location on is something that you may think is just the usual these days since it is so normalised on these apps but today I am going to talk about the danger of keeping your location on.

When you have your location on anyone can see where you are. Unless you have it set to only your close friends can see your location, which from my knowledge is something you can do on Snapchat. When you are out on a walk, out for dinner, staying in a hotel, out on a drive etc and you are posting picture on your Instagram and tagging the location in real time while you are still there it is more dangerous than most people realise. If you want to tag where you are staying, going to eat etc my advice would be to upload photos and videos and tag the location once you have left the place or when you are just about to leave.

You never know who is looking at your location, which brings me to the story about what happened to me. Just a disclaimer before I talk about what happened that no details of names and places are being used for the purpose of the story.

My experience

Towards the end of 2017, I was at an event in a nightclub. Someone who was working in this nightclub was looking at me for quite a while and kept calling me over to him. I didn’t know why he was calling me but when I approached him he just wanted to talk. He started complimenting me and flirting with me. I thought it was strange that he was talking to me this way while he was working but apparently it was common. Someone else who worked in this nightclub knew me and was looking over at me while this other man was talking to me. I walked away from the man who initially called me over and went back to my friends.

We left the nightclub and went to get food. I ordered my food and as I was waiting with my friends, I turned around and the man who called me over in the nightclub was there with the person I knew who worked there with him. The man tried to continue to talk to me and kept telling me he wanted to ‘bring us home’ and was interested in ‘having some fun.’ I told him no that we were making our own way home and he didn’t seem to take my answer and continued to ask me to go with him. Me and my friends left once we got our food and went home.

The next day I had an add request of Snapchat from a name I didn’t recognise. As fake accounts would add and follow me often I accepted the request and texted the person to ask who they are. When he replied he said “I am the man from the nightclub.” I didn’t give him my name but I then realised the person I knew who worked there with him must have gave him my information. I politely told him that I wasn’t interested and then he continued to text me constantly. I realised that he would continue to text me and try to call me so I blocked him. He then followed me on a fake account on Instagram and told me it was him when he messaged me and I blocked him there too.

A few months later I was walking to my bus stop after leaving college. I heard someone calling my name and started looking around. As I was walking I finally saw someone waving and calling my name and realised, it was the man from the nightclub. When I was walking past him he started asking me how I was and I said I was good but I had to go get my bus home as I was in a rush. He said that he knew that I was going to the college that was down the road and that he was hoping he would see me. He then said that he knows my bus takes about 45 minutes to an hour to get to where I live and he mentioned the number bus I had to take to go home. I started to panic, called my friend and continued walking to my bus stop. I didn’t know how he knew so much information about me when I didn’t know him at all.

Another few months went by and I was on the way to work. I had been working there for a while at this point. I was walking into work as I was due to start my shift and I saw someone in work clothes staring at me and smiling. As I got closer I realised, it was the man from the nightclub. I immediately started to panic. I clocked in and went to where my colleagues were. I told them about the situation and they told me that it would be best to tell the manager because it seemed really weird and that he had only started working there. Me and my colleagues went to do the next job we had to do and we had to walk past where this man was standing. He tried to speak to me and I kept walking with the people I was working with. This man then chased me down the hall and put his arms around me to hug me. He told me he knew I had been working there for a while and was happy to see me. I was in full shock at this point and so were my colleagues. I went to speak to one of the managers in tears and told them what had happened and what was going on. They said that they would look into it and speak to him.

Three days later I was due to go back into work for my shift and the man was still working there. I had a panic attack and went straight to the office because I felt so uncomfortable with everything that was happening. My other manager told me that she wasn’t fully aware of the situation but that she would sort it out. She told me I should go home and to leave the building through the fire exit so the man didn’t see me leaving. I was so uncomfortable with everything that I quit the job. I was told that the man was let go shortly after this incident by someone who I used to work with.

I used to post exactly where I was on my social media all the time, exactly when I was there. Although I had this man blocked on everything, he was using fake accounts to see my posts once I had blocked him on his personal accounts. I was told that this man has a wife and kids as well which made me feel sick because of how he was behaving. I have not heard from him since.

Now when I post up anything on my Instagram and I tag locations I have either already left the place, I am just about to leave the place or I am with my family and friends who I feel safe with. I never have my location on on Snapchat unless there is a reason for me to have it on and when I have it on I have it set to only certain people can view it.

The situation I experienced made me realise that posting your location is sooo dangerous because you never know who is watching, who can see where you are, what their intentions are or what will happen. Please be careful on social media.

That is all from me today😊 I hope everyone has had a blessed Sunday and has an amazing week filled with opportunities, blessings and happiness🙏

Much Love,

Shannon💛