Facebook & MySpace Users Could Pay 10% More for Home Insurance

Published: Wed 21 Apr 2010

Larry Roth

Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz, and Foursquare may alert intruders when users are away from home, says Confused.com, a price comparison site. Foursquare, for instance, indicates that users are in certain locations, and more relevantly, that the user is not at home, adds Confused.com.

The Website expects that the skyrocketing use of social media sites may eventually lead to skyrocketing homeowners insurance premiums.

The president of home insurance at Confused.com, Darren Black, said: "I wouldn't be surprised if, as social media grow in popularity and more location-based applications come to fore, insurance providers consider these in their pricing of an individual's risk. We could see rises of up to 10 percent for people who use these sites.

"Criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their information gathering, even using Google Earth and Streetview to plan their burglaries with military precision. Insurance providers are starting to take this into account when they are assessing claims and we may in future see insurers declining claims if they believe the customer was negligent."

How to Protect Yourself and Your Insurance Rates

The Website offered the following safety tips to those who use social media sites:

1. Do not post your personal information or home address on social media sites.
2. Do not follow people you do not know on social networking sites and block people you don't know from viewing your profile if you do not know them.
3. Shut off location-based features on Facebook and Twitter unless their use is absolutely critical.