How might your digital footprint affect your future opportunities?  

My digital footprint may affect my opportunity to get a job. If I go to a job interview, they might see the person I want them to think I am. They might see a different person than I think they’re seeing; they might think that I’m meaner or bossier than I actually am. Then they could search me up on the internet and see that my personality is great even when they were doubting me at the interview, because of my digital footprint. Because even if I think that my social media accounts are private there are always ways to find and access them. The interviewer may realise that I am not the person they thought I was and think that I lied so I am not a reliable and trustworthy person to hire because I only showed them a small glimpse of myself.  

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My digital footprint could also help me in my future. For example, if I become the owner of a major food brand and I have a major customer interested in buying from me, but they decide to investigate my history on the internet. In this case all that I have ever posted on my personal social media are photos of me and my friends hanging out together, pretty views, my pets, etc, and the stuff I’ve posted about my company is all for the company – promoting, sales, nothing is sketchy. and nothing is wrong with my company’s digital footprint, the customer may be more willing to purchase from, and trust me and my co-workers. 

 

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Three strategies to make sure that your digital footprint is appropriate and safe. 

I can make sure I have a strong password. The number one thing I can do is to make sure my password is strong, that no one can guess it, and just as important, I can remember it. I won’t use my address, phone number, pet names, 1234, or family members names for my password, it makes them that much easier to guess. The key to having a password that is almost unguessable is to make sure it has uppercase letters and lowercase letters, no words from the dictionary, as well as symbols, and numbers. 

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I shouldn’t use the autofill password setting, it makes it so much easier for people to find and access my information, I will try to remember my password instead. Spending a few extra minutes typing my password in is so much safer and worth it in the long run. Autofill passwords are not a good idea because if anyone has access to my computer, it doesn’t matter how they have access to my computer, but they also have access to all my passwords which are used to access all my accounts. 

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I can make sure I always make sure I check photos, videos, or other media before posting it. Even if it seems harmless at the time, I really need to make sure that that one photo that I posted while I was tired or at a party doesn’t come back to get me. As a rule of thumb, I should never post something if I can’t share it with my family, especially my grandma. 

Here’s an example of a photo that might seem super cool to post for your friends, but you’re at a party so it probably wouldn’t be the best idea to post because it will affect your digital footprint.

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What information did you learn that you would pass on to other students, how would you go about telling them?  

I would tell students to always check their social media to make sure everything is appropriate and to make sure that their usernames are not connected to their names because it makes them less easy to trace. I would tell them that no matter how badly they want to post a photo even if it’s a little inappropriate they shouldn’t do it, especially if they have friends in it that are tagged, because it’s just setting them up for destruction. I would tell students by talking to them and telling them to pass on the information because it might just save someone’s and career. 

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