My digital footprint

Find out more about digital footprints and their impact.

Consider your own online identity and how you can shape it to improve your personal 'brand' and future employability. Make sure you are aware of online privacy pitfalls and how to avoid them.

Your digital footprint 

Your digital footprint is influenced by everything you do online; searching, playing, creating, communicating and shopping. As well as the information you purposely create and post you also leave a data trail in your wake whenever you are active online.

It’s important to remember too that it’s not just about what you do but what others do, whether that’s tagging you, tracking you or posting a photo of you. Your online presence is effectively your brand so it’s important that you take an interest in it.

This video from Digital Education and Social Media expert Nicola Osborne explores the impact of digital identity in more depth:

Employability and your digital identity

Employers often check social media and the web to find out about you when you apply for a job. If you leave your digital identity unchecked and unmanaged you may find you fall at the first hurdle before you’ve even had a chance to present yourself in person.

Find out about the four things employers look for when they Google you. It is important to keep your digital footprint in check and curate an online identity you are happy to present to the world.

Professional and academic social media networks

To create a positive digital identity it might be helpful to join professional networks in your area of work or study. Here are some suggestions. We're sure you know of many more - find out what colleagues, teachers and professionals in your area are using.

Online privacy

Considering your digital footprint is not just about employability. If you value your privacy it is important to consider all the information about you that is generated, stored and tracked and consider its potential impact. (See How search works for more on this).

Your digital footprint will increasingly be used to make judgements about you; politically, financially and commercially and so it is really important to be mindful of it and proactive in your management of it.

To gain some insight about the types of data Facebook and Google collect about you take a look at this informative Twitter thread by Dylan Curran . If you want to discover the data Facebook holds about you then you can now download it using their self-service tool.