Your Digital Footprint - What You Need to Know
A digital footprint is the trail of data and information that you leave behind as you move around the internet.
What is a digital footprint
Things like online shopping, interactions online, content you post on social media, your search history and blog contributions, and even photos you take and then delete! your digital footprint can connect all your data. It not only influences how individuals are perceived online but also plays a role in data privacy and cybersecurity. These pieces of data are like crumbs that follow you around, although these crumbs can't be cleaned up, they can't be erased and could either hurt or help you later in life.
So why does it matter?
Social Conscious
A study conducted at the Sunshine Coast University found that 82% of employers are influenced by a candidate’s social media presence and using social media to show inappropriate behaviour, intentionally causing harm to others was perceived by employers as the most unprofessional behaviour and would affect their employment opportunities.
Potential job implications
You need to think about the comments that you make, the pages you like, the groups you join, and your profile picture, which can all impact if you are invited for an interview. From a CareerBuilder study in the USA, 51% of employers found content on social media that caused them to pass on otherwise good candidates. The most common reasons to pass included provocative or inappropriate photos or information, bad-mouthing a previous company or fellow employees, and poor communication skills.
Find out more
-
Does the site look dodgy? Best to leave that one straight away. If it makes you uncomfortable or you are concerned about what you're looking at, leave.
-
Make sure that you lock down all your privacy settings, don’t add people that you don’t know. If someone adds you as a friend, check out the profile if its new then it could be a scam. Make sure that you manually approve any new friends or followers.
-
Don't ever disclose personal information, like your address, date of birth, phone number or bank information. And most importantly, think before you post. Don’t post your school or school uniform to any public forums and check if there are other people in the photos and they are ok if you post. Anything you post online, whether it's a social media upload, a comment on a blog post, or a response in a forum, is public and can be discovered by almost anyone. Most photos that you post become the property of the site that you upload them. They may not ever do anything with them, but even if you delete them, they may still be out there on a server somewhere.
-
Dodgy websites are very sneaky, they often pay for sponsored posts on social media. When you click on a direct link from your socials – have a look around the site for anything that sticks out, long names for things (anybody interested in “Blue floral suspender dress Women's 2023 Summer new traf zevity Female French backless long elegant party korean fashion Dresses”), spelling mistakes, generic content or website look.
Related resources
Having a part-time job offers a host of benefits beyond just making money.
A digital footprint is the trail of data and information that you leave behind as you move around the internet.
When you enter the workforce, the prospect of getting to and from work can be both exciting and challenging.
