Digital Footprints: What size boots do you wear?
Pew Internet have published an interesting report, with a topic that’s absolutely my focus, but which I’ve only just had time to absorb. It’s clearly titled “Digital Footprints: Online identity management and search in the age of transparency” and it’s free to download as a PDF from Pew Internet.
The original questions that the report is based on are also available, a very useful measure to allow interpretation of any report – hats off to Pwe Internet for that simple addition, in addition to the report’s methodology being included at the end of the report.
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.
There are some interesting terms and stats thrown up in the report which I include to pique your interest.
- Passive Digital Footprint: Personal data made accessible online with no deliberate intervention from an individual.
- “Second degree” personal information is material about you that may not be connected to your real name or is provided by someone else, with or without your knowledge.
- 11% of adult internet users say they have searched online for information about someone they are thinking about hiring or working with.
- 19% of adult internet users have searched for information about co-workers, professional colleagues or business competitors.
- Most users in search of information about others have some difficulty finding the information they want.
- The drive to be recognized online is so strong in certain circles that some parents have even begun to consider these issues when naming their children.
Related Blog: You’re a Nobody unless your name Googles well – Wall Street Journal (May 2007)
These related posts may interest you:
- Digital Biographer hits TopRank’s “Best Blogs on the Net” list
Online Marketing Blog is TopRank’s internet marketing blog about the intersection of social media, search marketing and online public relations, and is ranked #8 in the AdAge 150 top web sites. Today,... - BBC News: Meet the digital biographer… that’s me.
I am now officially the Digital Biographer. According to the BBC. I was interviewed by the BBC’s technology correspondent last week, with the results appearing today. The article focuses on my work... - Digital Biographer cited in The Times: “vanguard of a social revolution”
I always fancied myself as a revolutionary… and now ‘The Times’ has made reference to me as the “digital biographer” in an article entitled: Log on and rediscover the generation gap Facebook... - You’re a Nobody unless your name Googles well – Wall Street Journal
It’s official – well, it is if you rate the Wall Street Journal’s front page as authoritative – if your name doesn’t Google well, you can have problems with your credibility –... - Listen to the Digital Biographer now on BBC Radio Wales
I was pleased to hear that my interview with Adam Walton of BBC Radio Wales yesterday sounded good, was a good three minutes longer than expected, and was ‘top of the hour’...
