As humans, we all have a digital footprint. Every comment made on social media, every news article shared, and every purchase made online contributes to one’s person’s data trail. Your data trail reveals a detailed picture of who you are and what you like.
All internet users, starting from the digital natives (the iGeneration) to the digital pioneers (Millennials or Generation Y) to the digital migrants (Generation X), should bear in mind that the internet never forgets.
The internet keeps track; it follows you and introduces you to your interviewers, prospective employers, suitors and contract-awarding authorities. It acts like a spell that parses the lives of unsuspecting fellows. Don’t post anything that you don’t want to come back and haunt you in the future. Also, keeping your data trail clean isn’t only about your reputation – the junk you allow your devices to collect puts your internet privacy and security at risk.
During your name search, you may have come across old social media accounts, posts with insensitive, outdated jokes, or embarrassing blog posts in which you overshared too much of your personal life. Dig up everything you’ve ever posted and evaluate it with fresh eyes.
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In today’s ever-changing world, managing one’s digital footprint has become more important than ever. This reality informs why we need to be careful in our indulgence with the Internet. Every action has its consequences. These footprints can be either active (intentional actions) or passive (unintentional data collection), shaping a detailed profile of one’s online presence and behaviour.
Your digital footprint is your online reputation. It can be helpful or harmful. What you say online can impact your everyday life. And managing your data trail isn’t only about privacy and data security. Employers, schools, and law enforcement could use your online activity on social media to make character assessments.
So, it’s important to keep your online identity positive. Imagine what someone might think about you based on your actions online. Additionally, you may not always be aware of the digital footprint you’re creating. Examples of hidden data collection include websites that install cookies without telling you, mobile apps and sites that use geo-location to determine your location, and social media ads or news sites that profile you based on your likes, shares, and comments to serve you advertisements that relate to your interests.
It is high time you started imagining those posts and comments resurfacing on the internet two or three years after, would you be happy you shared them online? Would you be comfortable with them? Secondly, do a Google search of your name and see what it brings out about you. Or perhaps go through all your social media activities in the past years.
Most companies, even startups and graduate schools, now conduct some online checks on their potential employees and students to know what they have been up to, what they spend their time doing or sharing online and, most especially, what people are saying about them. As much as it is becoming increasingly hard for them to contact people who know you offline and ask them some personal questions about you, the internet has made it less hard or easy for them to do that through your digital footprint.
Finally, let your online activities, as much as you can, communicate what you do, your values, and your experiences. This is not for everyone. Some people are not comfortable sharing what they do online or talk about their values and experiences. Discretion is key. You must know what works for you.
Before you share something online, your picture, videos, comments or tweets, always think it through! The internet never forgives, it never forgets.