Lives of great men all remind us, we can make our lives sublime, and, departing, leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time. ~~ [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]

What is Your Internet Footprint?

A quick way to determine your internet footprint is to Google yourself.

You may need to perform a Google search for each of your internet ids to get a complete internet footprint (e.g. Google search “Mary Smith” + Google search “Mary S. Smith” + Google search “shibashake” + Google search “goofyshiba”).

This footprint measures the impact you have had on the internet since its inception until today. Of course, it is not wholly accurate; old websites, newsgroups, or news articles may no longer be active and thus may not be reflected in the Google results. However, given the low price of data storage, this is probably happening to a lesser and lesser extent. .

However, even if you do not take defunct-pages into account, this simple search engine method still fails to capture the secondary effects of your online impact.

In particular it does not accurately capture the internet content of people and organizations, that have been influenced by you. While some of this may be derived through the links and related options in Google Advanced search, it is difficult to accurately and fully capture this ripple effect.

Despite its inaccuracies, it is nevertheless satisfying to see this visual representation of your internet footprint and online fame.

In addition, this footprint is sticky and will endure long past our mortal lives. There is a certain amount of self-satisfaction to that.

Why Increase Your Internet Footprint?

There are many reasons why people try to raise their internet footprint including:

• So that they feel good about themselves because they have made an impact and are “known”.
• So that there is a record of some of the things they have done, thought, or said, that endures.
• So that they may find audiences for their work may it be writing, art, or applications.
• So that they may promote themselves and their work.
• So that they may expand their online social circle and receive kudos from their fans.

How to Increase Your Internet Footprint?

In the past, fame was only in the purview of the rich and powerful. Today, anybody can quickly and easily establish an internet footprint and a “fame” of sorts for themselves. To increase your internet footprint, you may:

1. Join popular online communities.

Sign up to popular online communities such as Facebook, mySpace, and Hubpages. You don’t even need to create or download any content. Just put your name out there and say “I am here!“.

2. Share content in Facebook, mySpace, youTube, Flickr and others.

Once you have established a presence in an online community you may start to expand your footprint by downloading your digital pictures and video. Facebook, mySpace, youTube, and Flickr, all allow you to share pictures and video through an easy to use and free interface.

These popular online communities allow you to quickly disseminate your content to a large group of people, and they are also well indexed by search engines such as Google.

3. Create new content.

New online communities such as Facebook, mySpace, youTube, and Hubpages have really brought forth a renaissance of content creation.

Because it is so easy to create and share content, an unprecedented number of people are participating in writing, art, and programming. By creating your own content you add new dimensions to your internet impact and participation.

The more high quality, relevant, and unique, the content, the greater the impact.

4. Contribute knowledge to online encyclopedias.

You may also make a big footprint by contributing to the collection of human knowledge through an open online encyclopedia such as Wikipedia. Perhaps future generations will be reading about your insights on life, health, and technology.

5. Participate in online discussion forums.

Another way to contribute knowledge is to both ask and answer questions in online discussion forums such as Yahoo! Newsgroups, and Yahoo! Answers.

Yahoo! Answers, especially, is well indexed by Google and is frequently ranked highly in the search engine’s results. Thus, in addition to helping your fellow man, you are also making an online name for yourself.

6. Popularize your content by cross linking, sharing, and posting your links.

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” ~~ [unknown]

Creating high quality content is important in expanding and maintaining your footprint, but so is being effective in spreading that content to large numbers of people.

Dangers of an Internet Footprint

• There have been some disturbing articles recently alleging that employers may be using internet footprints to create background checks on potential employees.
• Law enforcement agencies or government agencies may also use internet footprints to profile you, and perhaps implicate you in a crime.
• Internet footprints may be used to collect information about you for purposes of advertising and targeted marketing.
• Any online user can easily access your online footprint and use to to stalk and otherwise harass you.

And remember that once established, internet footprints tend to be sticky and may stay with you for a long, long, time. It may be prudent to use multiple online ids, and to be careful what information you choose to make public.

While some of these danger scenarios may sound frightening, and may occur; the chances of anything really horrible and dangerous happening (e.g. the stalking scenario) are small.

In contrast, the benefits of establishing a high quality and enduring internet footprint are large.

So kick off your shoes and start walking!