And this week, I googled myself...

Aloha all -

In this day and age, our digital identity is important and should be cultivated carefully.  Things that you put out there in cyberspace may follow you forever.  Those drunken pictures you put on Facebook are not so funny once you're a mother and wife.   Digital identity and privacy is a significant concern especially for those growing up in this generation.  Employers, clients, even colleges now sometimes turn to the internet to make decisions.  

I try my best to teach my kids to protect their privacy and not to share too much. I must admit I have probably made them paranoid about it by telling them horror stories of how people were tracked down or stalked or attacked by providing too much info and bad people finding them. Or how you think you're talking to a teen and it's an old creeper.  Okay, I know, maybe not the best way, but it makes a point.  I must admit I google my kids periodically and so far so good.

So, as part of this assignment, I googled myself to check on my digital identity.  I am pretty cautious about what I post online, so most of the things that showed up were not a surprise….my work info and website, and my social media profiles - Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+.  But I did discover there is another "Terri Saragosa” in California who works for a computer company and one link (peoplefinders.com) lists my age, places I have lived (City, State) and possible relatives - yikes!  But nothing necessarily that I would need to "change."  But I guess if I wanted to, I could update my profiles, picture and strengthen my privacy settings.  Sometimes though, certain things may be out there "forever" so the best strategy is to be careful about what you post.  

Here's an interesting article with tips on "scrubbing” your digital identity: 

http://neatoday.org/2012/09/07/is-it-time-to-scrub-your-digital-identity/

Here’s a blog post on digital identity and a good rule of thumb:

http://blog.lewispr.com/2013/10/never-post-anything-that-you-wouldnt-let-your-mother-see.html

“Never Post Anything That You Wouldn’t Let Your Mother See”

Google yourself today!

A hui hou,

Terri