Introduction
With all the posting that we do on a daily basis, our reputation online comes down to our digital footprint. We are constantly leaving them all over the internet. Every time you post on Twitter, Facebook, or any other social media, you are leaving digital footprints. This is in the way of posts, tweets, images, pictures, comments, etc. No matter if you are responsible for the post or not, your footprint is being left and you may be held accountable for it in the future. With that being said, we are going to try to help you control your digital footprint.
Google is by far the best way to gauge your presence on the internet. If you can think of it, chances are you will find it on Google. For that reason, you are going to need to Google yourself. This is not as dirty as it sounds. All you need to do is drop your name or your company name into a Google search. Faster than you can blink an eye, Google will spit out everything they know about that search string. If you don’t find anything bad about yourself, good for you. The truth is, more than 70% of adults have reported that they have found something on Google about themselves that they were not happy about. If you found something bad about yourself, move on to the next paragraph. Even if you didn’t you should continue to read so that you can keep abreast of the latest things you need to do to control your digital footprint.
Take Control
By taking control, you dictate what is searchable about you. That means that you may have to do a little bit of legwork. Start off by looking over all of your posts from all the different social media outlets. This may take some time. If you find anything that you do not like, simply delete it. Should you happen to find something that a friend posted, ask them to either crop the photo (if possible) or remove the photo altogether. If they decline, make sure that you untag yourself in that image. While the image will still exist, it will no longer be attached to your name. Next, you are going to want to lock down your privacy. This will include having to approve any post about you. Take for example if a friend wants to tag you in a picture of last weekend at the lake. If you don’t find it flattering, you can decline that tag and the ability for it to be posted on your timeline. Don’t worry, they won’t know unless they check for it.
Conclusion
And there you have it! The best way to manage your reputation online is to take control. These companies cannot have information up about us if we do not provide it to them. Remember, you are the one that is responsible for what is on the internet about you. If you don’t want it up, make them take it down or don’t post it yourself. You will thank us for this advice in the future.