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Cape Town – The burning question surrounding Kim Kardashian West’s robbery has been largely based around how her presence on social media may have contributed to it, and how it may change in the future.
The Kardashians are no strangers to social media and keeping their fans updated with everything they’re up to.
Paris Fashion Week was no different...
"Can you guys guess where I'm at?"
So teased Kim recently on her massively popular social media streams, as she telegraphed her moves to millions, from the mundane (a room service order) to the fabulous (fittings with designers and her usual front-row perch next to other rich and famous folk) — all before armed robbers broke into her flat, tied her up and fled with more than $10m of her jewels early on Monday.
Did the reality TV star provide them with a map via Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram and her phone app?
As details of the harrowing holdup continue to surface one thing is clear: She was excited to be in Paris for fashion week and her social media made sure everyone knew where she was.
A talking point on Keeping Up With The Kardashians
While Kim, and the rest of her family for that matter, have continued to share their whereabouts on social media, their safety in the public eye has been a huge talking point on their reality show.
In a recent episode, the family voices their concerns about their social media posts showing their exact locations and how it has made them vulnerable to the public eye.
Kourtney specifically draws attention to the fact that Snapchat – a social media platform that Kylie Jenner is one of the most followed on – immediately shows your location when you are snapping.
She said, “Kylie is one of the most followed people on Snapchat, which shows your location immediately. It’s not safe.
Before suggesting her way of cheating the system, Kourtney and Khloe discuss a way to scare Kylie so that she doesn’t reveal her location so easily.
Kourtney’s solution to keeping her location private however is “when out in public Snapping, turn airplane mode on and just post it later.”
Security to celebrities
Providing security to celebrities in this era of social media is difficult. At Sunset Protective Services & Investigations, which includes event security and bodyguards for hire in the Los Angeles area, the added headache of constant online updates complicates safety precautions.
"Our view on this is that we want everything as low-key and as quiet as possible, obviously," said Tim Hayes, a retired Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy. "When you have someone like the Kardashian family, they even have programs documenting their every move, it makes it that much more difficult."
And while there is no way in knowing whether Kim’s social media presence played a role in the robbery, the security concern for her and her family will surely affect their online presence in the future.
(Screengrabs: E!/Buzzfeed)
- AP
