Pastoral Care and Wellbeing

Digital Reputation

Over the past few weeks a number of social media platforms have been in the news.  Calls have been made to increase regulations around access and use of these platforms. There is a thought that children under the age of 14, or even 16, be banned.  By using these sites, we are creating a digital profile and ultimately a reputation.

A digital footprint is created by you with all the things you say and do online, as well as what others post about you. 

The key components of a digital reputation are:

1. Social media activity
   1. The sites you follow
   2. Content you post, like or share
2. Online reviews
   1. Comments you make
3. Search engine results
   1. When you type into Google or other search engine, the list of websites, images and videos that come up
4. Sporting and other profiles
   1. Online pages or accounts where you share information about your sports achievements or other activities (sporting stats, game highlights, hobby sites)
5. Blog content, websites and game development 
   1. stories or articles that people write and share on the internet

Your digital reputation can affect your friendships, relationships and even your job prospects for the rest of your life, so it’s important to be careful about how you are seen online.

Once something is online, it's extremely difficult to remove. This means anyone, even people you don't know, might see it in the future.

With the integration of AI into some of the platforms, more and more we are experiencing the ‘deep fakes’ (fake videos that look real), tracking of user behaviour, feeds that have been developed by algorithms and misinformation. Words and pictures can be misunderstood or changed, and something meant for just your friends can cause problems if other people see it, even if you don’t share it.

It's important to think about how you manage your posts, messages, pictures, and videos, and also what others post about you. Tagged photos, blog posts, and social media interactions all affect how people see you, now and later.

Your privacy settings on social media sites help control what others can see of your online life, but they do not protect you completely. It's essential to regularly review and adjust your privacy settings as social media platforms update their features and policies, and as your own preferences and needs change.

Digital reputation is a critical aspect of both personal and professional identity in today's digital age. It requires ongoing effort to build and maintain a positive image online.

Our School TV has a number of short interviews around digital reputation at this link.

This link comes from the eSafety Commissioner and is an interesting exercise we should all observe.

Suzanne Pola

College Leader - Student Wellbeing