One should always take a moment to think before posting something online. This is especially true if you are about to post something that can be easily accessed and read by anyone who happens to find it. If you have filed an insurance claim, be careful what you post in any form of social media. Your insurance company could be reading it, and potentially using it against you!
There is something about social media that makes people decide to post information that they normally would not share with a random stranger. Most people don’t really care what you had for lunch, but this doesn’t stop thousands of people from Tweeting about it. You probably wouldn’t start a break room conversation about the gastrointestinal distress that you are experiencing, but you might post something in your status on Facebook about it.
Few people would decide to march up to their boss and describe in vivid detail, precisely how disgruntled they are about their current employment situation. But, if the recent controversy involving teacher Natalie Monroe, who blogged her opinions and frustrations regarding her students, the parents of those students, and the school system in general have taught us anything it is this: one must be very careful about the information you put online.
If you have filed a claim against your insurance company, it would be advisable for you to completely stay off of all forms of social media until after your claim has been completely processed. Insurance adjusters have upon occasion lurked their customer’s social media pages in order to find information that they can use in regards to the claim that the customer has filed. This includes Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, MySpace, Yelp, and all the rest.
Most people have the common sense to avoid posting things that could cause them problems with their insurance company. If you recently filed a claim about a car accident you were involved in, you probably are smart enough to know that you shouldn’t make a stupid joke about it on your Facebook page.
What most people don’t realize is that even an innocent status update about something as banal as going to lunch with your mother can be taken out of context. There is potential for an insurance adjuster to twist the meaning of what you wrote, in order to deny your claim. For example, it could be argued that if you were feeling good enough to go out to lunch with your mom, then you must not have been as badly injured from that fender bender you filed a claim about, after all. In other words, you are going to have to restrain yourself from checking updated tweets, and posting a billion updates from those addictive Facebook games until after your insurance claim has been processed.
Image by Liam Dunn on Flickr