By Sarah Lilley

Your digital footprint is your online identity. It’s what people see online about you and what you leave behind. Have you ever googled yourself? What you find that’s connected to you is part of your digital footprint. Selfies, sports teams, events, social media, everything. Some people may not know, but you digital footprint will affect your future job opportunities.

When a company is considering to give you a job, they look at your digital footprint. They may look you up on the internet and see what comes up. Even a picture from 5 years ago can affect their choices. Say it’s a picture of you drunk from a party, the company may have second thoughts about hiring you because they don’t have as much faith in your abilities to stay professional and mature. But if what they find is positive, say, a first place award from a science fair or a article about your sports team the company may be satisfied with your profile and decide they can trust you with the companies image.

Always think before you post. It doesn’t matter if you love the picture, if it’s something you might regret later, don’t post it. Sometimes you may get caught up in the moment and do something you really wish you hadn’t. Don’t do things you’ll regret later in life. If you get into a fist fight and seriously injure someone, you might make headlines in a bad way. Sometimes things should stay thoughts, not become actions. School is one of those places that when your young, you feel invincible and think you can do anything you want. That’s not true in the least. Always watch what you do and use your head to avoid unwanted attention. Never post anything of other people without permission. You wouldn’t want other people to do it to you right? If the person doesn’t want you posting it, respect their wishes and keep it private. Or better, get rid of it.

Think about it! You have a life ahead of you and nobody wants one wrong move to destroy their future. If you already have social media, don’t post about every little thing. Posting a picture you like one minute then decide isn’t flattering the next may be deleted from your feed, but it’s still out in cyberspace floating around. It never goes away. Manage your digital footprint. Google yourself every once in a while. If you don’t like what you see, then you should probably change something about your lifestyle.

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