1. How might your digital footprint affect your future opportunities? Give at least two examples.
-A negative way my digital footprint can affect me, is if I ever sad something to someone or about someone, that is offensive or disregards the overall guidelines of either the social media or my future business.
-A positive way my digital footprint can affect me, is if my boss or someone of importance comes across something that I have posted of myself doing something good for the community. An example for me is whenever I go on fundraiser runs like ‘Run up for down syndrome’ or the ‘5k foam fest’, I might post some photos of it, and they could see it.
2. Describe at least three strategies that you can use to keep your digital footprint appropriate and safe.
-One of the main things to remember when on social media is to ask yourself why you use it, because I know how easy it is to get too carried away and accidently do something you don’t want to. I try to always remember that the purpose of me using Instagram and Youtube is strictly for entertainment purposes.
-Another thing to know is that there are generally two types of people on social media: People who post, and people who don’t (only use it for entertainment/viewing). The second type of peoples’ digital footprint are safer for the most part, so if I don’t have the need to post, then I shouldn’t.
-The last tip to insure a safe digital footprint is to always know that you have someone to help with good decisions making. Everybody will tell you the THINK acronym (which is important), but the next best thing if you are not sure of something is to go to someone else for a second opinion.
3. If you could go back in time, is there anything you would do differently online? Think of what type of advice you would pass on to your younger self or other students. How could you go about explaining it to them?
Sometimes I do actually look back at my older social media self and, instead of getting embarrassed (which is a sign that your digital footprint is not good), I just end up cringing at myself. If I was to give any advice to anyone starting out is to know that this is 100% normal. The biggest thing is that as long as it is a feeling ‘cringe’ rather than embarrassment or disappointment, then it is probably fine. (Because it is personal rather than factual).