What is my digital footprint?
Your digital footprint is your online identity, it is everything that you post online. It can be used to form an image of who we are so it is important that this image is accurate and only appropriate and necessary content is shared and posted.
You wouldn’t want the wrong image of you to be portrayed and ruin your chances of a job opportunity, or for the information that you post to put you in a vulnerable position. Cyber criminals are getting smarter so it is important to be in control of your online presence, otherwise, they may use the content you post against you.
Understanding your digital footprint
Don’t get lost in all of the noise and ensure you are monitoring your social posts to ensure you are not putting yourself or business in danger. Always ask yourself the following questions.
Is my post necessary?
Does your post have a purpose? Do people really need to know about the content of your post? Are you posting personal information? If in doubt, don’t post.
Is my post accurate?
Are you posting an accurate representation of yourself? Would you be happy that your friends and family saw this information and used it to form their perception of you?
Who can see this post?
Ensure your privacy settings on your social accounts are up to date. On personal accounts, we recommend that you create a “private” Instagram account so you can monitor who can see content and on Facebook we would recommend that you switch your posts so that only “friends” can see instead of “everyone”.
Who does my post affect?
Do not post information that may affect anyone else’s reputation or put them in a vulnerable position.
In a nutshell, always think before you post and if you are in doubt then you probably shouldn’t post.