Mainawatie Singh - Digital Footprints and Reputations and Bloggers

 

• Based on the content provided, what are your greatest concerns with your digital reputation? 

• Upon googling myself, I was able to find my information on the webpage of our organization, complete with my phone number and my LinkedIn profile. Both webpages have accurate and current information, and I have no concerns with this as I was made aware when accepting my role that I may have some online presence. Articles also arise for presentations and panels that I have participated in on behalf of my organization. One concern I do have is that there is another person with my full name (that is twice my age) residing in Florida, and the first recommendation that comes up is to see their arrest and court records. Concerns I have here are surrounding the fact that I have a very unique name; at first glance if I am being searched professionally, I could be mistaken for this person. 

• What precautions do you have to take to preserve your digital reputation? 

• To preserve my digital footprint, I ensure that all of my social media profiles are private. For any posts that I post online, I aim to ensure that they always contain content I am proud of and would be okay with if they were posted in the middle of Times Square. I take pride in the person I am both professionally and personally, and I believe it is really important to be careful and monitor what is posted online. Whenever others take pictures of me (whether it be family or friends), I review my settings to ensure I approve of that picture before it is reposted on my own social media. I am also very aware of my role in my organization and the number of team members I provide oversight to and try to ensure I am socially responsible with all digital postings, chats and any and all communications. 

• In your profession, are you held to the same ‘digital reputation’ standard as others?  Is the standard you are held to fair/unfair? Why? 

• My organization has a very direct policy towards social media use in our employee handbook indicating “employees are solely responsible for what they post on social media,” along with other very specific parameters on what is not allowable for an employee to post. All employees are held to the same standard as the handbook is issued to the entire organization and is fair to all. However, I believe that as a director I am held to a higher unspoken standard where I ensure I do not accept follow requests from staff that report to me or to a supervisor under my leadership. I also remain highly conscious of everything I post, whether public or private, to ensure it aligns with both the formal policy and expectations associated with my role. 

• Whose responsibility is it to show your coworkers and team and help them understand/preserve their digital footprint/reputation? Educators? Parents? Administration? Yourself? 

• Within my organization, the responsibility to delegate what we can and cannot do related to our digital footprint is our Human Resources department. In the event leadership is made aware of a concern regarding someone's digital footprint - I have never encountered this but I would report to our human resource department to have them assist me in determining the best approach to address if needed. 

• Have you or someone you know ever been negatively (or positively) affected by something found online?  Share if you'd like. 

• Online news and social media are constantly around us and I do find that information shared can have both negative and positive impacts on me depending on what is shared. What I have learned is that it is important to ensure that information read online is fact-checked for accuracy as false news can easily spread like wildfire. 

*The 2nd and 3rd videos were marked private so I was unable to watch but I appreciated the information shared. Digital footprints do have lasting effects and education should be continued so that everyone understands the ramifications of their online presence.