Understanding the importance of having a positive digital footprint?

All you need to know about having a positive digital footprint.

For the fact that our lives are now mostly centered around digital activities, leaving a trail of positive digital footprint should be of importance to us because as the day goes by, almost everything that we physically achieved two decades ago has now been automated on one platform or another.

Platforms where we leave digital footprints:

• Social media platforms
• Online banking
• learning
• eCommerce shopping
• Virtual conferences
• Virtual concerts
• Fitness websites and apps
• Gaming consoles
• Data banks
• News letters
• And many more

With everything being automated, it means that humans can hardly interact with each other without making use of digital platforms or portals. And the utilization of digital portals require accessing them with our digital signatures (data) like login details, emails, phone numbers et.al.
For this reasons, data has been termed as the new gold.

What is a Digital Footprint?

A digital footprint can be explained as a unique electronic trail of data, generated through activities, content, communication, or transactions executed by an entity on a digital space (internet) or device.

Any information about you, that exists on the internet as a result of your online activities like shopping, social media posts, newsletter signup, leaving an online review, is a digital footprint. With your digital footprint, all your online activities can be traced back to you.

The 2 Main Types of Digital Footprints

(1) Active

This is a piece of information that a person intentionally shares online. Examples are:

• Your blog post.
• Information deliberately shared on websites like your name, address, and specific details.
• Email exchanges records.
• The most common active footprints are information shared on social media.

(2) Passive

This is the kind of information that a user leaves behind unintentionally. Examples are:

• The IP address of your device.
• Your location search on maps.
• Your browser history.
• Your products prefrence captured by an ecommerce site when you shop.

From these examples of digital footprints listed above, anybody in today’s digital era should be concerned about the information they put online because of data mining. Most platforms mine or store data in order to have a better understanding of their customers, provide better services, or re-market to their target audience over again.

However, some of the comments and photos that you have previously posted online can be misinterpreted or edited to cause unintentional offenses.

Some content intended for a private group can also be mischievously spread to a broader community, potentially damaging the personal image, relationships, and friendships.

Hackers are also exploiting user data online – using it for cybercriminal activities such as phishing for account access or creating false identities based on your stolen data.

If you go through the privacy policy of most websites or mobile apps, they have properly stated all the rights that you have assigned to them, regarding the use of your personal information which you submit on their platforms. But this is not enough.

That is why an organization like Apple has introduced the new iOS 14 policy change which has already shown great limitation impact in ads personalization and performance reporting on both app and web conversion events.

This new iOS 14 policy change prohibit’s certain data collection and sharing unless users opt in to allow for tracking. On a different topic, we will talk about the collation of data with tools known as cookies, pixels, database tracking, and the new iOS 14 policy change.

4 Other Types of Digital Footprints

This is the kind of information that a user leaves behind unintentionally. Examples are:

1. Personally Identifiable. This information can be personally tracked to you real name.
2. Anonymous. This are masked informations that you leave online using a pseudonym like VPN & swithched IP address.
3. Data Input. Encrypted messages sent from a mobile device
4. Sensor Data. Information created by sensors via microphones in public places, private residences, CCTV cameras and digital devices.

In order words, all we have listed above means that we cannot escape leaving a digital trail online.

Now, if we cannot avoid leaving a digital trail online, are we supposed to be worried about leaving a negative or positive digital footprint online?
Will leaving a negative digital footprint be detrimental to our future online activities?

A digital footprint is also a record of an entity. And a record provides detailed insight or partner about an entity’s certain activities. For this reason, we need to make maximum effort in providing and protecting a positive digital footprint for the purpose of future references.

7 Benefits Of A Positive Digital Footprint

1. Leaving a positive digital footprint helps you project a positive image as a person or an organization.
2. For an individual, it helps you builds trust for future refrences. Job search, Products sales, Public positions.
3. Free advertising to potential customers because they will trust you, your brand products or services.
4. It can be used as a free portolio or resume because showcases your skills, interest and it is permanently online.
5. It helps attract the right networks. This happens regularly on professional platforms like LinkedIn.
6. Unexpected support. We have seen people come to the rescue of strangers online due to the endorsement of certian individuals who have a good reputation and a positive digital footprint.
7. It can be used to track legal issues or detect fraudulent activities.

8 Disadvantages Of A Negative Digital Footprint

While we list the benefits of a positive digital footprint, we cannot afford to ignore the impact of a negative digital footprint on a person or an organization.

1. For an individual, it can cause loss of jobs as employers now track negative comments and perspectives online.
2. For a brand, a negative digital footprint can result in damage of brand identity or loss or revenue.
3. A negative digital footprints can result in loss of admissions as colleges and universities now check social media accounts of prospective students.
4. Visa applications now require submission of social media accounts for digital footprint checking. A negative one will limit your chances.
5. It can be used to generate reviews without your concent. If you have written something negative online 10years ago, As long as you wrote it, it can be attributed to you.
6. Often times cannot be deleted. It will surface online forever.
7. Irresponsible exposure to unwanted advertising.
8. General negative image about a person or organization

Examples of a negative digital footprint

I am going to highlight 2 recent examples taken from Twitter while I was creating this article.

1, As seen on @Postsubman’s tweet on the 15th of November 2021.
“Moment Ghanian Tv Hosts confronted a man who tr*led them on Twitter during a show. A contestant was on a live Tv program and he was confronted by the Judges of the said Tv show whom he had previously posted some unconfirmed negative comments about on Twitter.
The contestant couldn’t back up his previous comments and he definitely lost his chance on the reality Tv show.

Because your digital footprint can either enhance or damage your image, reputation, brand, business, or organization, it is essential that we become conscious and protective about the kind of information we provide passively and actively online.

2, As seen on @Mochievous’s tweet on the 17th of November 2021.
She called out certain @chizom_(as at 17-11-2021) on allegations that he (@chizom_) was proposing sex to a 22-year-old woman who had previously reached out for more details about a tech scholarship.
Looking at the comment section under this very tweet, you will see several replies from different Twitter users, of negative digital footprints already left behind by @chizom_

As an organization, it is also important that you provide a guide about the exact kind of digital footprint that your team has because it can positively enhance the brand image of the organization.

Digital Footprint Creation Guide

Your online presence will depend on your eventual goal either as a person, a brand, or an organization.

Because we now know that a digital footprint cannot totally be wiped out, we can always take advantage of it by creating a positive one. Use it as an opportunity to advertise yourself and your brand in a positive way over a long period of time and create a digital footprint with the hope of getting rewards in the future.

• Identify your overall goal and who you are targeting.
• Narrow down to a very specific niche.
• Identify the platforms you’ll be using to push out your content.
• Personlization. Dishing out content just like you are talking to someone standing in front of you.
• Originality. Own your content.
• In another article, I will write extensively about making use of some free popular platforms to create a positive digital footprint.

5 Ways To Monitor Your Digital Footprint

• Do a Google check of yourself or Company and scrutinize the results
• On twitter,
• Always use the privacy settings on every platform to control who sees what about you.
• Delete all old accounts that you are not using anymore.
• Stop sharing sensitive information on social media. Consider the future implications things you share online.
• Posting is almost permanent. Always remember this.
• Avoid sharing private data on public wifi.
• Make use of strong passwords. Using uppercase, special characters and numbers.
• Always log out of platforms that you are not using.

In conclusion, manage your digital footprint by being cautious about your online activities, controlling the information you put out there, and also managing your previously left data from time to time.
Use every opportunity to put out content that might be supportive in building a positive image for yourself or your brand because you never can tell when the opportunities will open up.

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FAQ’s About Positive Digital Footprints