Tomorrow will be Data Privacy Day, or DPD. This day will be used to increase awareness of privacy and data protection issues. Access to technology is so integrated with our everyday lives and so it’s easy to forget that anything we decide to post online will not always stay within the realm of our immediate circles. We’ve heard and seen, and perhaps even lived through horror stories of information getting leaked out to the wrong people, with the varying degrees of embarrassment or ruined opportunities that come after such an event. With everyone using social network websites such as Facebook or Twitter, not everyone thinks of ensuring that their private and work life are kept separate, or to ensure that their information isn’t compromised. It seems that most of us tend to trust Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the like and that they will keep our stuff private as another version of the website rolls around or that no one but the friends we add can see the pictures of a “rough” night. But according to a survey commissioned by Microsoft, most of us aren’t so careful in ensuring our online image is as clean as our physical one.

Now More Than Ever, We Should Be Aware of What We Post Online

The Microsoft survey, conducted by Blueocean Market Intelligence, defines “online profile” as the sum of online content about you (credit card purchases, medical records), content you created (emails,  your posts on social networks or videos you upload) and content about you created by others (uploaded photos or comments made about you online). They describe “online reputation” as the image of you created by things you or your friends have posted online through blogs, pictures, tweets, videos or posts. The results of the survey revealed that while 67 percent of the people surveyed (5000 people comprised of children between the ages of 8-17 and adults from 18-74) felt that they were in control of their online reputation, only 44 percent thought actively of the long-term consequences their online activity would bring. 14 percent of the adults surveyed said that they experienced negative consequences due to someone else’s online activities, such as getting fired or getting turned down for a mortgage application.

While we know the majority of us do take some steps in controlling the amount of information we put out there, not everyone truly grasps the impact one photo or post can have on our chances to advance in our careers or lives.  That a potential employer or promising date only has to put your name through a search engine to find as much info as you’re letting out, sometimes unknowingly is something we should be far more aware about.

With this in mind, here are some things you can do to make sure your online image is in tip top shape, compiled by Microsoft Chief Privacy Officer Brendon Lynch:

• Check out what the internet says about you: type your name and all variations of it (if you have more than just a first and last name, nicknames, initials, include those in too) in several search engines and see what comes up. Include personal domain names (yourname.com) in your search.
• “Un-tag me from that pic!”: If there is something about you that was posted that you feel puts you in a less than favourable light (like that time in Daytona Beach), ask the person who posted it to un-tag you or remove it. Don’t forget to say please!
• “She said what about me?”: Check out what others (friends and frenemies alike) have posted about you; pictures, videos, comments and tweets.
• No one will possibly see that: Before you post anything, ask yourself if what you are about to publish online will help boost or harm your reputation or if there should be things to be corrected or omitted.
• Private is private: Consider separating your social profiles from the ones you use professionally by using a different email address, screen name and blogs for each profile. Refrain from cross referencing the personal with the professional profiles.

Privacy settings are your best friend in all this and with Facebook about to unequivocally dole out the new Facebook Timeline feature to all profiles over the next few weeks, now is the perfect time to go through all the photo albums you’ve posted and remove those that may put you in a bad light. Also, make sure that you properly tailor your privacy settings to control who sees what among your circle of friends.