A persons digital identity and foot print are very important, especially in the professional world. Over the last year and a half of my B.Ed degree I have been told by countless guest speakers how important maintaining yourself on less is. The tricky part about maintaining yourself online is that often the trail of internet identity left behind on oneself, was not placed their by oneself.
My own digital identity is rather small, and perhaps too small as it does not show enough about myself and my technological presence. Up until last month my Twitter was locked, my Facebook is still locked, and all thats left are a few blog posts and some old hockey stats. The importance of maintaining ones digital identity is tricky. It is important that your online identity be professional, not littered with drunken high school pictures, but it also needs to be present, showing you are current and capable in the world of technology.
Protecting yourself online is much more than locking an account. Although this helps, it doesn't do as much as many people think it does, and certainly doesn't make you invisible online giving you free will to post whatever, whenever you want. The fact of the matter is people WILL google your name, and make assumptions on what they find. In fact one class guest speaker went as far as saying she checks potential employees tweets for spelling mistakes! The rule of thumb I follow is that if I don't want my mom to see it, I won't post it.
Educating students about what they post online is critical. Students need to be made aware of the potential hazards of the online world, and be taught that nothing is as private as they may think. Most importantly teachers need to model proper online behaviour.
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