Positive Digital Footprint: What It Is + Examples

Just as literal footprints leave an impression of your shoe behind in the ground, your digital footprint leaves an impression of you as a person online. Employers, friends, and potential partners can look you up online and find bits and pieces of your footprint, which can tell them a lot about you.

For better or worse, it is undeniable that your digital footprint matters. To maintain a positive image online and reputation in person, it’s a good idea to learn how to craft a positive digital footprint with every online move you make. 

What Is a Digital Footprint?

A digital footprint includes any information about yourself that is accessible online. All of your online activity, especially public activity in places like social media apps, contributes to your digital footprint and online reputation. 

This can include a variety of online activity, such as:

• Social media posts and stories
• Social media profiles and accounts (including finstas and old accounts) 
• Emails
• Browsing history (what websites you visit and how you interact with them)
• Personal information (name, address, phone number, etc.) 
• Device information (what kind of devices you have, phone carrier, IP address) 
• Online shopping
• Online subscriptions

Some parts of your digital footprint are only accessible in the event of a data breach, where cybercriminals gain access to previously private data like your address and phone number. But other parts, namely social media, are accessible to pretty much anyone who knows how to look you up online. 

You never know who might be looking up your name on a search engine, so it’s a good idea to make sure that the trail of data and activity you leave behind is suitable for anyone to see. 

How To Create a Positive Digital Footprint

You can do tons of things to ensure a positive digital footprint and online presence. The easiest place to start is with social media accounts, but the strategies you apply when posting and interacting on those platforms can be used across all of your online activities. 

Posting on Social Media

Social media is a great place to express yourself, share your interests with others, and post pictures from your real-life experiences as they happen. You can share things that inspire you and might inspire others, achievements and awards you receive, fun, cool, or educational experiences you have, and more. 

As long as your post, story, reel, or video is respectful of others and doesn’t contain anything hateful, malicious, or overly controversial, it should be good to go. 

Here are some examples of things you may want to share on social media accounts to create a positive vibe: 

• Pictures from vacations you take
• Your thoughts on the last book you read, movie you watched, or podcast you listened to
• A new recipe you tried for last night’s dinner
• Art projects you created
• Updates on your goals (fitness, writing, cooking, anything you’re working toward) 
• A new hobby you’re pursuing (crochet, yoga, pickleball)
• An inspirational quote that you connect with
• Anything positive about your day (good weather, no traffic) 
• A “how to” video about something you’re good at
• Informative posts from other accounts and infographics (just be sure you check that your sources are reliable before you post) 

These examples mostly apply to the everyday poster, the typical social media user. But if you run a business account or are trying to build a brand via social media, here are some other ideas of ways to be positive while encouraging engagement: 

• Customer success stories 
• Positive reviews
• New products or services offered and their benefits
• Charity or volunteer work your business has supported/been part of
• Inspirational quotes that connect to you or your brand
• A comedic and lighthearted meme or funny video related to the time of year, your product, or a current event

Social Media Comments

A huge aspect of social media is the comment section. Always make sure when you comment, you say respectful, uplifting, and positive things. Never comment anything negative, don’t insult or criticize people, and never post anything that could be interpreted as racist, sexist, homophobic, etc. Always think before you post.

But don’t let these warnings deter you from commenting. If you see a post you like, let the person know! 

Leaving genuinely positive comments is a great way to support content creators, influencers, artists, and your own friends and family. They will love to hear your compliments and admiration and will hopefully return the favor when you post. 

Spreading Positivity Elsewhere Online

The majority of your active digital footprint is likely on social media, where you intentionally post images and videos for others to see. But you can also build your positive digital footprint elsewhere to boost your online reputation even more. 

Here are some examples of things you can do online to ensure your footprint is positive: 

• Write an article about something new you learned or an educational experience you hadsome text
  • Ex: A travel guide about the best places to visit in Costa Rica.
  • Ex: How going vegan impacted your health and life. 
• Create a sponsorship page for a fundraiser you’re involved in
• Leave a positive review for a restaurant or activity you enjoyed
• Create a personal blog or website and share things you’re passionate about or good at (recipe blog, fitness blog, art portfolio website, etc.) 

Think Before You Post

If you’re going to share something online, you should always ask yourself if you would be okay with your grandparents seeing it. That is a good way to test if the content you’re posting is appropriate, respectful, and will make a positive impact. 

If you think your grandparents, parents, teachers, or anyone else who knows you might see you differently or be appalled by what you want to post, it’s probably best not to post it. While some things may seem funny in the moment, they can be rude, crass, hurtful to others, and unnecessary in retrospect. But once you post, you can’t take it back. 

Even if you delete a post, people have still seen it and it has still damaged your digital footprint. The same thing applies to other online activities. Don’t visit websites, subscribe to things, buy products, or send emails you wouldn’t want to tell your grandparents about. 

The Footprint of Your Future

Having a positive online presence and exercising good digital citizenship is important not only for the sake of positivity but also for your future employment opportunities. Employers are fully able to look you up online and find your social media accounts pretty easily. 

You don’t want them to find anything that would make them hesitate to hire you. Rather, you want them to find things that make you more appealing as a candidate. 

Protecting Your Digital Footprint

Following cybersecurity best practices is a huge part of protecting your digital footprint. Secure your online accounts with strong passwords, make your personal social media accounts private if you can, and remain alert and cautious when navigating the online world to avoid hackers as much as possible. 

Whenever you create a new account, make sure to adjust the privacy settings to keep yourself protected from unwanted followers, bots, and potential hackers. You can also use a second phone number app like Burner phone to organize contacts and reduce the number of times your real phone number has to appear online. 

Try Burner today to experience the cybersecurity benefits of a second number. The last thing you want is to have a hacker impersonate you and create a negative digital footprint on your behalf. Protecting yourself from data leaks and hacks will minimize the risk that someone else can impact your digital footprint. 

Positivity Is Key

The key to a positive digital footprint is to be positive yourself. Post what makes you happy but is also respectful of others. Share something new you tried, post a fun or educational experience, or write a blog about the magic of the new juicer you got. 

If it brings you joy, it will likely bring others joy, as well. And that’s really what a positive digital footprint is all about. 

Sources: 

What Is a Digital Footprint? | IBM

Building a positive digital footprint | myfuture

What is a Positive and Negative Digital Footprint? | GeeksforGeeks