THUNDER BAY – If you are online you are creating a digital profile of yourself. The information you are generating can be used by prospective employers, your current employer, your friends, prospective dating partners, and maybe even your spouse. Those pictures that you put online showing off the antics everyone thought was so funny, or those quick Tweets can come back to bite you if you are not careful. Some people may feel that only happens to celebrities, or politicians. It can happen to anyone. A soccer player in Great Britain was recently fined £6,000 for sending homophobic tweets by the FA.
Many people on their Facebook will share information that likely they don’t stop to think could become public. It could be a short rant over a bad day, or a comment about a boss or a co-worker. Those comments could cause problems for the individual who posted them if their employer found out.
For students there are rules in place as well, many of which are likely unknown to both parent and student. At schools in Thunder Bay under the Lakehead Board of Education: “Bullying has been added to the list of activities for which a student may be suspended and is identified as: “a dynamic of unhealthy interaction that can take many forms. It can be physical (e.g., Hitting, pushing, tripping), verbal (e.g., Name calling, mocking, or making sexist, racist, or homophobic comments), or social (e.g., Excluding others from a group, spreading gossip or rumours). It may also occur through the use of technology (e.g., Spreading rumours, images, or hurtful comments through the use of e-mail, cellphones, text messaging, Internet websites, or other technology.)”
Under the rules, a student even outside of school, posting something online from a home computer on a social media site is responsible for that post.
So what can be done to make sure you are building a good online repuation? As part of Data Privacy Day 2012, Microsoft is offering guidance and tips to help Canadians better manage their online profiles and maintain a positive reputation. Everything a person does online, from responding to emails and texts, uploading photos, making purchases or clicking the “like” and retweet buttons on favorite web pages contributes to their online reputation. However, new global research commissioned by Microsoft surveyed 5,000 respondents from Canada, the United States, Spain, Germany and Ireland suggests adults and children may want to be more mindful of how their digital activities impact their online reputations. In Canada, 57 per cent of adults and 55 percent of children aged 8-17 years old surveyed do not think about the long-term impact of their online activities on their personal reputation, and only 37 percent of adults and 41 per cent of children think about the long-term impact of their online activities on the reputations of others.
“Protecting what you share online is very important. Online information can affect your friendships, promotions and job offers. It shapes how people see you,” commented John Weigelt, the National Technology Officer, at Microsoft Canada. “Without protection, your personal data can also be used against you in online fraud or by unwanted marketers. Canadians need to protect themselves and help children get into the right habits as well.”
The results showed that children could use more help managing their online reputations from their parents. Only one-third (34%) of parents surveyed help their children manage their online reputations. Children 8-14 years old are more than twice as likely to receive parental help as children 15-17 years old (66% vs. 25%). Among children who posted information online at a social networking site, children 15-17 years old were more likely to experience a negative consequence to their online reputation compared to children 8-14 years old (62% vs. 50%).
The survey also showed that uploading photos in general is not viewed as a major contributor to online profiles. While only 6 percent of adults and 9 percent of children responded that it was a major contributor, photos are considered one of the biggest influences on online reputations.
To help Canadians put their best digital foot forward, Microsoft Canada offers the following tips to help cultivate and maintain a positive online reputation:
- Think before you share.
- Think about what you are posting (particularly photos and videos), who you are sharing the information with, and how it will impact your reputation. Talk with friends and family about what you do and do not want shared about you and ask them to remove anything you don’t want disclosed.
- 11 percent of Canadian adults have been negatively impacted by the online activities of friends or family. Of those, 13 percent believed it led to being fired from a job, 8 percent being refused health care, 6 percent believed it resulted in being turned down for a job they were applying for, and 11 percent being turned down for a mortgage.
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Stay vigilant and conduct your own “reputation report” from time to time.
- Search all variations of your name in Bing and , and evaluate if the results reflect the reputation you’d like to share with current or future employers, colleagues, friends and family members. Check the Images section as well, you may be shocked at what you find.
- Research found that 39 percent of Canadian adults rarely or never do this.
- Consider separating your professional and personal profiles.
- When job hunting, applying to a school or looking for new insurance or a loan, remember that your overall online profile can be a determining factor for hiring managers and application reviewers. Be sure to use different email addresses, screen names, referring blogs and websites for each profile, and avoid cross-referencing personal sites.
- 56 per cent of Canadian adults think about taking steps to keep their work and personal profiles private; however, 15 per cent of Canadian adults have shared information online that was intended to remain private. Most commonly shared are details about one’s personal life (61%) and personal photos (35%).
- Adjust your privacy settings.
- In Internet Explorer 9 or other Web browsers, and on social networking sites, personal blogs and other places where you maintain personal data, use privacy settings to help you manage who can see your information, search for you on online networking sites, and how you can block unwanted access.
- According to our research, 34 per cent of Canadian adults do not use privacy settings on social networking sites.
- Be a good digital citizen.
- The web has a long memory. Always conduct yourself in a civil manner, showing respect for those with whom you engage.
- Microsoft offers guidance on how to be a better digital citizen in our Digital Citizenship in Action Toolkit.