Your digital footprint comprises all the stuff you’ve left behind you while using the internet. This can include things like comments on social media, calls you made on Skype, things you’ve searched for, email records, accounts you’ve signed up for, profiles you’ve created, all this and more makes up your digital footprint. If you’ve been using the internet for a while, your digital footprint is likely quite large. Chances are your digital footprint is harmless, but it could contain some stuff from your past that may come back to haunt you. (Just think about those celebrities who were crucified for their past tweets, some of which were over ten years old.) For this reason, it’s a good idea to clean it up. Read on to learn the steps you need to take to sterilize your digital footprint.
Perform An Audit of Your Accounts
A great deal of clutter is created from old accounts and profiles. You may have forgotten about them, but the internet hasn’t. A good way to figure out what accounts you’ve created is to run a search on yourself. You can perform a Google search or use a people finding service like CheckPeople.com. This will show you what accounts and profiles you’ve created that can be found by other people. You can then deactivate and delete accounts that you no longer use.
In some cases, a people finding service or a Google search won’t reveal all the accounts you’ve opened. For instance, some eCommerce sites require you to become a member when making a purchase. Therefore, it’s a good idea to go through your shopping receipts and check to see if you created a profile. You could also look at the promotional emails you receive as these will indicate the companies you’ve given your email to and with whom you might also have created an account.
Investigate Your Publicly Available Posts and Photos
It’s important to look at your online activity through the eyes of an outsider. How would a post from ten years ago be read today? How will a potential employer see a photo of you at a party? Have you “liked” any posts whose subject is problematic when viewed from an outside perspective? Did you join any groups or forums years ago? Go through your online activity with a fine-tooth comb and delete, untag, or make private anything that could paint you in a negative light.
Manage your Privacy Settings
It’s time to decide how easily you want to make it for people to find out information about you. If you want to keep your life private, you should update your privacy settings on your accounts and profiles. This doesn’t mean that everything you share has to be private. For instance, you may want people to be able to find out about the awards you’ve received. However, it may be better for job purposes if you kept things from your personal life private to avoid potential embarrassment. You should also speak to your friends and family about any photos they post that include you. Ensure that whatever gets shared is either flattering or, if not, make sure you aren’t tagged.
Consider your Online Habits
The best way to maintain a clean digital footprint is to think before creating a post, making a comment, sharing a photo, or creating an account. It’s important to remember that the internet is forever. Anything you create online is discoverable. You can make it hard to find certain things with privacy settings, but malicious or determined people can find almost anything if they try hard enough. So be conscious of what you post.
Conclusion
Your online activity and reputation can have a real impact on your offline life. Things you posted or liked years ago when you were a different person can come back to haunt you. Therefore it’s important to go through your past activity, accounts, and profiles and remove anything outdated or unflattering. Additionally, you should be mindful of what you put online, so you don’t have to worry about whether your digital footprint is “clean” or not. It’s important to remember that everything on the internet is eternal, and many people and organizations are listening, recording, and saving the things you do.
