A recent article from Pew/Internet about online identity management called Digital Footprints (pdf) really hits the mark for me. Their research found that while internet users are becoming more aware of their digital footprint, few actually monitor their online presence with great regularity.
Where we have been often lingers long after the project, the conference, or the website that was the focus of our attention.
“Unlike footprints left in the sand at the beach, our online data trails often stick around long after the tide has gone out.”
Their categorisation of online adults based on their level of concern about their online information was interesting (and amusing):
- Confident Creatives (17%)
- Concerned and Careful (21%)
- Worried by the Wayside (18%)
- Unfazed and Inactive (43%)
Digital Footprints: Summary of Findings at a Glance
- The nature of personal information is changing in the age of Web 2.0. Internet users are becoming more aware of their digital footprint; 47% have searched for information about themselves online, up from just 22% five years ago.
- Few monitor their online presence with great regularity.
- Most internet users are not concerned about the amount of information available about them online, and most do not take steps to limit that information.
- Internet users have reason to be uncertain about the availability of personal data; 60% of those who search for their names actually find information about themselves online, but 38% say their searches come up short.
- One in ten internet users have a job that requires them to self-promote or market their name online.
- Among adults who create social networking profiles, transparency is the norm.
- More than half of all adult internet users have used a search engine to follow others’ footprints.
- Basic contact information tops most searchers’ wish lists.
Source: Madden, Fox, Smith and Vitak. Digital Footprints. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project, December 16, 2007. http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Digital_Footprints.pdf
One of the things I have been thinking about recently as I develop my network and profile on me.edu.au has been the number of times I have done something like this over the years: the websites I created and then abandoned when I changed ISPs; the places where I created a presence and then lost interest, or forgot the password, or forgot how to upload the files, or lost the original set of files the website was based on. The mental image I have is of digital landscape littered with virtual trash, of doing something digitally and virtually that I would never do in real life.
More at a later date… [I must get some “real work” done]
One Comment
Reading this information gives some comfort to a novice user. Presently only use net to look at information. Looking forward to actually being a bit more creative and educationally equiped.
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