TIPS FOR MANAGING YOUR DIGITAL FOOTPRINT & REPUTATION ONLINE

Christina Moore, EdTech 543-Social Networking

Activity online; such as internet searches, social media interactions, online profiles, and online accounts all leave an archive of your activity online.Some digital activity, or “footprints”, can be documented and retrieved by a simple search for your name using online search engines.

What is your digital footprint?

YES!

Personal information that is revealed by your digital footprint can be used to make judgments about your professionalism and could impact your career or potential jobs.

Is your digital footprint valuable?

The following are ten (10) steps I have done to manage my personal digital footprint and ensure my online reputation is protected:

Managing your online reputation

Search for your “footprint”

I was able to search for myself using internet search engines, like Google and Bing. Because I have a common name, many of the results from these searches revealed other people that share my name.

Set up an alert

I set up a notification system with Google Alert to notify me of postings related to my name.

Personal vs. Professional

To maintain an additional level of privacy, I have created separate social media accounts for personal and professional use.

Personal vs. Professional

By creating separate profiles, I can better manage and monitor postings and tags of myself in my professional and personal life.

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Shhhhh…privacy counts!

The privacy controls on my social media accounts have been modified so that my personal accounts cannot be found by a simple internet search. Alternatively, the privacy settings associated with my professional accounts have been relaxed so that the content related to my professional social media activity is easily viewable.

Connect with social media.

With so many social media tools available on the web, I have linked many of those accounts to one another by using either my Facebook or Twitter login.

Cross link new content

As I create new content, I share that content across social media profiles.

In the future….

To ensure a positive, online reputation I will begin to create a professional “brand” by purchasing my own url to host my blog.

Maintenance of online reputation is ongoing. Continued monitoring will help ensure that my positive reputation continues to grow!

References

Kawasaki, G. (2011, November 15) “How to start managing your online reputation.” Retrieved from http://www.openforum.com/articles/how-to-start-managing-your-online-reputation

Roth, C. (2012, May 22) “Four steps to managing your online reputation.” Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-roth/4-steps-to-managing-your-_b_1532639.html

Wallen, J. (2012, June 11) “Five tools to monitor and manage your online reputation.” Retrieved from http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-tools-to-monitor-and-manage-your-online-reputation/1432

Warden, C. (2012, May 17) “Using social media to manage your online reputation.” Retrieved from http://social-media-optimization.com/2012/05/using-social-media-to-manage-your-online-reputation/