Are you Leaving a Good Digital Footprint?

1. Are You Leaving a Good Digital
Footprint?
Sarah-Grace Tucker, Andrew Nicke, Lein Alaskari, Miguel Torres

2. What is a “Good Digital Footprint”?
 Webopedia describes digital footprints as “the word used to describe the
trail, traces, or ‘footprints’ that people leave online.”
 Having a good digital footprint means not having any potential reputation-
ruining information online.
www.webopedia.com/TERM/D/digital_footprint.html

3. What is a “Bad Digital Footprint”?
 A bad digital footprint contains negative posts that might deter colleges or
employers from wanting to accept or hire you.
 Including:
 immature posts that can make a person think less of you
 Crude or disrespectful posts
 Proof of illegal activity

4. Examples of BAD Digital Footprints…
 Gene Morphis
 Used Facebook and Twitter to vent about his days at work.
 He was a chief financial officer of fashion retailer “Francesca’s Holdings Corp.”
 He was officially fired because he “improperly communicated company
information through social media”
 Some of his posts included
 March 13, 2012 Gene posted on Facebook “Earnings released. Conference call
completed. How do you like me now Mr. Shorty?”
 March 6, 2012 he tweeted “Dinner w/Board tonite. Used to be fun. Now one
must be on guard every second.” and the next day he posted “Board meeting.
Good numbers=Happy Board.”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303505504577404542168061590

5. Examples of BAD Digital Footprints…
 Yuri Wright was expelled from his Catholic school and lost his football
scholarship from the University of Michigan for his sexually explicit and
racist tweets.
 He had been told multiple times by administration to stop using Twitter if he
couldn’t stop using explicit language.
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/recruiting/football/story/_/id/7484495/yuri-wright-twitter-posts-cost-college-scholarship

6. Examples of BAD Digital Footprints…
 Caitlin Ortiz, a student at Molloy College, loses her scholarship over quoting
Chris Brown’s rap song “My Last” on her Facebook wall.
 “andd imm put his drink uppp like its my lastt”
 It was claimed by her softball coach that she should not have posted a
“typo-filled song lyrics”
 The coach didn’t want recruiters to think Molloy’s softball team was “full of
thugs”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/20/caitlin-ortiz-molloy-coll_n_880837.html

7. Examples of GOOD Digital Footprints…
 When Benjamin O’Keefe was eighteen, he heard about Abecrombie & Fitch’s
CEO’s remarks about his brand only targeting “cool kids.”
 He was deeply angered by this and wrote a blog for the Huffington post and
created a petition on Change.org urging customers to boycott.
 When it collected over 74,000 signatures, Abecrombie executives met with
him to discuss future plans for the company.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/26/teens-using-social-media_n_3505564.html

8. Examples of GOOD Digital Footprints…
 Calliope Wong, a transgender woman, was denied admission to Smith
College because her financial aid documents registered her as male.
 She posted the rejection on Tumblr, causing Smith College students to
create a Facebook photo project of girls posing with signs supporting Wong.
 This also inspired a Change.org petition. After getting over 4,000 signatures,
the students delivered the petition to the administrators in May, 2013.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/26/teens-using-social-media_n_3505564.html

9. Examples of GOOD Digital Footprints…
 Zach Sobiech, a young cancer patient, posted a song he wrote for his friends
and family on YouTube to say goodbye.
 The song, “Clouds,” inspired thousands of people across the country.
 His family started the Zach Sobiech Osteosarcoma Fund to support the
research for the rare cancer that Zach suffered from.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/26/teens-using-social-media_n_3505564.html