Managing your social media footprint

By Peace Nwobi

Your social media footprint is the trail you leave behind for others to find every time you upload a picture, a video or an audio on the internet.

According to recent research, about 22% of employers deny potential employees jobs due to their social media footprints and about 18% of colleges deny people entry because of their social media footprints and the figures keep rising.

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Social media footprint is not limited to individuals alone, companies and institutions also have to be on the lookout for their social media footprints.

One may wonder, why should anyone care about their social media footprint?

The world has gone digital, therefore anything uploaded to the internet is already beyond your reach. No matter how anonymous you think you are, potential employers and even your family members may see your posts.

How you act online can make you or break you. Your online conduct can and will be used against you anywhere. Before you upload anything online, consider the saying, ‘the internet never forgets’.

Managing your social media footprint should be your priority before taking part in trending challenges or uploading questionable pictures or information.

One of the simplest ways to manage your social media footprint is by being a good digital citizen. Just like being a good citizen, you have to be kind, helpful and understanding online. Avoiding petty fights on social media is of utmost importance.

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The use of privacy settings cannot be over emphasized. This makes sure people do not hack into your accounts and tarnish your online image.

Keeping a list of accounts and deleting accounts that are out of use is also key. This helps you keep track of all your accounts to avoid any getting hacked without your knowledge.

Sharing important and personal information online is dangerous! The information can be misused if they end up in the wrong hands.

Googling yourself is also very important in managing your social media footprint. Most people use Google to find out more about others and knowing what Google says about you regularly is important because wrong information can be uploaded about you by someone else.

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Always read terms and conditions of apps and sites because some of these terms and conditions affect one’s social media footprint negatively.

Have in mind that sending a message is like publishing, even though you can delete whatever you send on your device, people may have saved the item and depending on the item in question, it may be used against you.

You should understand that your search history is open and available for anyone who cares to see, so keep your search history clean at all times.

A lot of us now are not patient enough to verify information before sharing and a lot of us have no idea that the pictures and videos we upload affect us positively or negatively.

Managing our social media footprint should be our priority always since most of us engage in social media activities from day to day.