Your Digital Footprint Explained
Remember that salty comment you left on a blog post 5 years ago? Well, it is still there…
Since 2007, one of my favorite content creators has been CommonCraft and their explainer videos. They’ve just rolled out a new one and since digital footprints are something I help my clients with I thought I’d share a link to it in this post.
Hope this proves helpful to you!
Like footprints left on a trail in the woods, our digital footprints leave evidence of what we do on apps and websites. This video explains the concept of digital footprints, why they matter and how to reduce the risk of problematic digital footprints in the future. It teaches:
– What it means to have digital footprints
– Why digital footprints are tracked and saved by organizations
– What actions leave digital footprints
– How your digital footprints could be used in the future
– How to reduce the risks of digital footprints
From the video transcript:
Let’s pretend, for a moment, that you are a detective trying to solve a crime. You and your hound find the trail of a criminal in the woods and notice footprints. Because of your training, you can tell what direction they were headed, how fast they were going, what size shoe they wear, what kind of shoe, approximate weight and more. This is valuable information for the investigation – the criminal didn’t even know that clues were being left behind automatically.
Something similar happens on the internet. When we visit websites, search for information, leave comments, upload videos, like pages and more, we leave another kind of footprint that’s also valuable. This is your digital footprint.
To understand why your digital footprint is valuable, we have to consider how business works on the web. Organizations depend on collecting and analyzing what people do on their website. That information can help the website, make recommendations, inspire helpful features, connect people, sell products and more. Continued…..
You can always contact me if you’d like expert help getting a handle on your digital footprint before launching a job search, new biz or side hustle. Questions? Contact me today!