Digital Footprints: Online identity management and search in the age of transparency Web Managers Roundtable Mary Madden Senior Research Specialist Pew Internet & American Life Project

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Why study digital footprints? Never before have so many aspects of our lives been recorded, archived and searchable.

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Professional Bios

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, LinkedIn Profiles

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Personal Blogs

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, MySpace Pages

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Information wants to be free…

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, “GM Motors Confirms Their Company Sucks”

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Digital Footprints at-a-glance… Internet Snapshot Report Findings Personal Stories Suggestions for Web Managers

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Who’s Online? 75% of adults in the U.S. use the internet –up from 46% in % of teens ages use the internet –up from 73% in 2000

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Then and now… % with broadband at home 50% owned a cell phone =slow and stationary connections % with broadband at home 80% own a cell phone =fast and mobile connections

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, How many of us are participating? User-generated content creation activities: % - Adult Internet Users Share something online that you created yourself, such as your own artwork, photos, stories, or videos 19 Post comments to an online news group or website18 Create or work on your own webpage12 Create or work on webpages or blogs for others11 Take material you find online – like songs, text, or images and remix them into your own artistic creation 9 Create or work on your own online journal or blog8 Those who have done at least one: 37

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Content Creation: Age tells a different story

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Youth of today, Web Managers of tomorrow

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Privacy: LOLCats speak up!

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Take a ride on the WayBack Machine…

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Digital Footprints: Headline Findings “Study: More Americans Googling themselves” -AP  47% of adult internet users have searched for information about themselves online, up from just 22%, as reported by the Pew Internet Project in “Pew survey: Half of us have looked up people we know on Internet” -SF Chronicle  53% have searched for information connected to at least one key group of people in their lives. “U.S. Adults Too Busy Googling Each Other to Worry Much About Privacy” -Information Week  60% say they are not worried about how much information is available about them online.

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Other Key Findings Just 3% of self-searchers say they make a regular habit of it and 74% have checked up on their digital footprints only once or twice. 38% of those who search for their names don’t find relevant information about themselves. One in ten internet users have a job that requires them to self-promote or market their name online.

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, What we know about our footprints % of internet users who say the following is available about them online: Home address35 Company or employer35 address32 Home phone number30 Things you’ve written that have your name on it24 Photo of you23 Groups or organizations you belong to23 Political party or affiliation11 Cell phone number6 Video of you2

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Who we look for online % of internet users who say they have searched for information about the following groups: Someone from your past or someone you have lost touch with36 Friends26 Family members23 Co-workers, professional colleagues or business competitors19 Neighbors or people in your community17 Someone you just met or someone you were about to meet12 Someone you are thinking about hiring or working with11 Someone you are dating or in a relationship with9 Yes to at least one:53

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Who am I? Self-Googling 101…

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, A Second Opinion…

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Wait a minute…

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Me with a moustache?

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, No introduction needed…

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Organizations have digital footprints, too…

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Manage your online reputation…  Google Alerts  Technorati  Co.mments  Board Tracker  MonitorThis (Suggestions from LifeHacker)

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Shape your message…. Blogging Flickr YouTube Digg Wikipedia Facebook Twitter  Post fresh content as often as possible.  Share content as widely as possible.  Don’t forget to tag, comment and link with abandon.

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Know your story online… Search well and search often. Don’t wait until something bad or embarrassing happens.  Self-literacy: A critical component of digital literacy in everyday life.

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Know the path of your users. Web managers should consider the way Web 2.0 content intersects with other content tied to our names and organizations online. Usability extends beyond your website to the broader network.  Web publishing doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Know the other players. When individual employees publish blog posts, podcasts or video online, that content may be understood within the context of the top search results tied to that person’s name online. Most of us have histories online.  In the era of search, context is king.

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Sounds like a full-time job… Many users are blissfully unaware of their own digital footprints or those of their organization. Setting up automatic alerts saves time and keeps you in the know.  Alerts are your friend.

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Don’t be a “Rahodeb.” “Online, your rep is quantifiable, findable, and totally unavoidable. In other words, radical transparency is a double-edged sword, but once you know the new rules, you can use it to control your image in ways you never could before.” -Clive Thompson, Wired

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Thank you! Mary Madden Senior Research Specialist Pew Internet & American Life Project 1615 L Street NW Suite 700 Washington, DC

Digital FootprintsMarch 27, Photo Credits: Slide 9: Uploaded by foxypar4 under a Creative Commons license (Some Rights Reserved). Available at: Slide 14: Uploaded by London Public Library under a Creative Commons license (Some Rights Reserved). Available at: Slide 15: Used with permission from