Week 2 - Digital Footprints

This week was all about digital footprints.
Basically whatever you do on the Internet is recorded. If you're not careful, those records can come back to bite you on the ass. but either that's untrue, or I'm some sort of super spy because there's nothing on me. when I'm looked up on Google, Yahoo, Bing, Spezify, the only thing that comes up is this blog on google. I can be found on Facebook but you cant learn much about me or what I'm like.

I don't spend a lot of time trying to erase my tracks but if i did, here's what I would be doing.
1 - LIE
its the most under used technique to hide yourself online. websites that require membership are the ones that keep a record of your activity. they all ask for a name so give them one. just not your real name, or not your full name. I have four online Identities: one which I use for facebook, and another which I use for online Gaming, and one more for twitter. I also have just recently made a new one that I use for Ryerson activities.
What I'm trying to communicate here is that staying on one identity isn't a good idea. you don't need a thousand names but you should have more than one.
2 - Check Yourself
Keep on top of your image. Google yourself to see what comes up. look yourself up on facebook to see what others see. the goal is to stay on top of perception. if you see something you don't like then change it. while you might not be able to retake what you wrote or did, you can certainly overshadow it. if you made a dumb statement on twitter and cant take it back, tweet more till your old stuff cant be seen anymore.
3 - Keep Groups in Mind
When I made this blog it was an assignment for my media tech class. For the same class I made a twitter account rather than just using the one that I already had. I consider myself to have three groups. I have my social group for just my friends which contains my email and Facebook. I have my school/professional groups which has a separate email and twitter and this blog, and i have a third group which involves my chat rooms, gaming and other things where I interact with strangers.

I haven't ever intentionally covered up my steps, but I have done these three things and I think that they really help me to keep some of the worse things about myself out of view. and while I don't have many things in view, maybe keeping up this blog will change things.