Online footprints

Leaving traces in the offline world is a sign of existence. What can tell you more about your roommate being “among the living” than unwashed dishes left to dwell in the kitchen sink?

Online presence is nowadays almost required. As Madden et. al. have discovered in 2007: “One-in-ten internet users have a job that requires them to self-promote or market their name online.” If we inspect our current way of life, the numbers must have only risen.

Feeling the pressure to be a part of online society, one is encouraged to create profiles on social networks, contribute in forums and post in blogs. All of these are our online footprints, traceable back to our identity. It is illusionary to believe one could separate his online identities from one another.

According to Louise Fletcher at blue sky blog your online footprints is everything you ever did online publicly – a FB profile, a comment, a book-review, …

What do we know of our online footprints?

1) It can boost or harm our career

Many information regarding online footprints warn us of the possible damage it can do to our career.

As not many people search for their name on Google or other search engines, be sure that the possible employer does. Can you stand behind what is found online? Are you proud on every single trace of your online existance?

There are many tips available on how to groom your online appearance and also on how to present oneself in the best possible light.

2) It gives away our personal information and preferences

Forgot about that forum on computers or fan-fiction? Did you leave your address and phone number to register?
Consider on revisiting those pages, deleting information or even profiles if you don’t use them anymore. It also might be wise to reconsider all the pictures available under your name – are they really appropriate for the whole world to see?
(Don't you just love the FB "Tag a friend on the picture" function? I didn't even know some photos of me existed!)

3) It’s forever

Online footprints don’t just go away even though we don’t use the sites or profiles. So basically, all you have ever written or contributed to the web, stays there unless purposely deleted. Although one might find this intriguing, it is in a way also scary.
Imagine: "Granny, I didn't know you once were a goth partying like animal."

But all is not bad.

“Unlike a carbon footprint, a large online footprint isn’t necessarily a bad thing; often it is a sign of popularity, prestige, and influence in the online community.”

We can also use online footprints to our benefit. Have you ever considered about online self-branding as a strategy for boosting up your employment possibilities?
The only thing you have to be sure of is to exchange the negative with the positive information.

For more reading go to these pages:

Erase your Online Footprint (10.3.2009) http://dukelawref.blogspot.com/2009/03/erase-your-online-footprint.html

Mark Shead, 2010, http://www.productivity501.com/your-online-footprint/8419/

Madden, Fox, Smith, and Vitak. (16.12.2007) Digital Footprints: Online Identity Management and Search in the Age of Transparency http://pewresearch.org/pubs/663/digital-footprints

MacGateway: Minimize Your Online Footprint http://macgateway.com/featured-articles/minimize-your-online-footprint-for-privacy-security-and-productivity/