Take Control of Your Digital Footprint

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Manage what information is held about you on the Internet and take control of your digital footprint. Find out what’s out there, then clean up the source data.

Google yourself – Search for yourself on the major search engines – Google, Bing and Yahoo.

• Switch your Internet browser to private browsing mode first. Search each search engine for your name, address and telephone number. Review the results especially images and videos.

Private Browsing: Firefox Private Browsing, Google Incognito Mode, Internet Explorer InPrivate and Safari Private Window

Do a Facebook public search check-up.

• Run Facebook privacy checkup.
• See how other people see on your Facebook profile. Run the View As tool.
• Search for your on Facebook People Search see content is viewable outside Facebook. Switch your Internet browser to private browsing mode first.

Update your password security

• Protect yourself against data breaches by using strong passwords that are harder to decrypt.
• Use separate passwords for each social networking site.

Think before you post online

Why are you posting a particular image and video?

• Remember that content shared can be copied and re-used by the sharing audience.

Do you trust the social networking platform to protect this data?

• Add a watermark to images and videos if you’re worried about the intellectual property of media you wish to post online.
• Review the piracy settings of each social network. Some social networks have an implied licensing policy giving them royalty-free license to use and distribute your content within their network.

Watermark – a pattern inserted into an image, audio or video file that identifies the file’s copyright information (author, rights, etc.). See iWatermark, an app that creates watermarks

Review previous social media content.

• Review all your social network timelines. Delete anything inappropriate.
  • Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+.
  • Don’t forget about your Pinterest boards.
• Restrict public access to sensitive social networking content.
• Review the Facebook best practice guide for assistance.

Review your email address.

• Have you got an inappropriate email address like funtimegirl69@hotmail.com? Consider the inpact of sending an email to prospective employer with this type of address.
• Consider creating a new email address for professional communications.

Set up web alerts of yourself.

• Add an email alert when search engine index new content with your name on the Internet. Try Google Alerts or Yahoo Alerts for email web alerts.