Week 8: Digital Footprint

We recently discussed our digital footprints, and how important they will be when we begin our careers. I realized about a year ago that I needed to adjust my privacy settings on my Facebook page. I don’t mind having pictures of me at parties, as long as I still look respectable. I doubt my future employers are going to expect me to look like I don’t have any fun. I have friends who have Facebook albums of them doing drugs and other things which I know would repel any employers from hiring them.
In regards to web pages, I looked up maggiemacpherson.com/.ca/.net and the address is not taken yet. I want to buy the .ca one for sure and maybe the .com one too. I hope I am successful enough some day that people are actually thinking of me when they Google my name. When I Google my name I get a few other Maggie Macpherson’s on Facebook, one on LinkedIn, and a mention of a woman in the New York Times who works in Film. So it looks like I have a good shot at having a distinctive Digital Footprint.
Wikipedia split up Digital Footprints into two types: passive and active. A passive digital footprint is created by other users, such as being mentioned in a blog or article or being tagged in another user’s photo. Active digital footprints are created by the user, examples include creating your own Facebook page and albums, creating your own blog, writing an article, or creating a web site.
The passive digital footprint scares me. I have had to ask people to delete or un-tag photos of me before and it is not fun. Luckily, I have no enemies, and hope to keep it that way, but if I did, it doesn’t take much to spread rumors throughout Facebook and Google and anywhere online. This is why I am glad that teachers teach their students to find credible sources, we need to know not to trust everything we read, because someday it may be about us. Facebook and YouTube have pretty much made everyone possible paparazzi. This may not be such a bad thing though. Actions have consequences, especially in a time which is so obsessed with communication.
I have a prediction about the digital community and gossip. It’s not even really a prediction since it has already started. I think that there will be very little if any credible online information anymore. Before Web 2.0, most people believed everything they read came from facts. They may have disagreed with it, but, compared to now, they didn’t wonder whether or not the entire story was made up. Now, everything we read needs to be questioned. Also, when I hear about a celebrity or anyone being pursued by the media, I usually feel sorry for them. They are people, they make mistakes, and if my life was under a spot light then I would have a few scandals on my record too. I think the public is realizing this and, I hope, we stop obsessing over the mistakes of people around us and start celebrating their accomplishments and use mass communication to learn from each other instead of hurt each other.
I got a little side tracked there…in short I’m going to work on my digital footprint this winter holiday and maybe create another blog or web site.