Should You Clean Up Your Digital Footprint

May 17, 2014 - PRLog -- In today's highly digital age, we all have a digital footprint that can easily be searched on Google, social media or a variety of other sources.  This collection of potentially private information can easily be searched by employers, parents, friends, or anyone else who might want to "dig up a little dirt" on us.  In most cases, once it's on the internet, it is floating around cyberspace forever for anyone to find.  However, there are a few things that can be done to clean up our act online and make it a little more difficult for prying eyes to invade our privacy.  The folks at NetSearch411.com, the newest private people search (http://www.netsearch411.com) engine have put together a list to help protect your privacy online.

1)  Clean up your social media account posts and pictures. Delete any inebriated pictures of yourself that were on Facebook, Twitter, or any of the other social media accounts.  Oftentimes, the first place prospective employers.  The old adage, "If you wouldn't want your Mom seeing what you're doing, don't do it here." proves true.  You may think you are just sharing with friends, but it occasionally even the most private things on the internet are searchable.

2) Review social media privacy settings. Facebook privacy settings are a little more complex than just clicking on a checkmark.  Verify that your global settings and individual user settings are set to "Friends only".  As well, check to see what information friends can see such as posts, friend requests, previous post privacy settings, etc.  Most importantly, check these settings at least once a month as Facebook tends to change their privacy policy much too often!  These privacy settings can often change back to the default settings after a privacy policy update.  Also, keep in mind that Twitter is unique in that every single Tweet is indexed and searchable by Google.

3) Google yourself.  Enter your name city and state in various search engines and see what information can be found.  Enter your phone number and see what information can be found.  If you find inaccurate information or information that you do not want available to the public, go to the website, find the "contact us" email and send the webmaster a request to remove your information.

4) Think before posting! "Flaming" an old high school rival's post or having a long Facebook argument where everyone can see a huge string of posts with you trashing your former best friend is simply not cool!  Before you post anything, keep in mind potential relationships, boyfriends/girlfriends, employers, etc. will research you before making a commitment to the relationship.

5) Do not post your cell phone number or email address publicly on social media.  The new private way of posting your cell phone number is to go to http://www.netsearch411.com, Sign up for a completely free people search profile, enter your information, and set your desired privacy settings.  Those conducting a people search will be able to send you an automated email request to ensure only those whom you want to reach you can. This will ensure friends wanting to find a person's cell phone number (http://www.netsearch411.com) can find you without sacrificing your privacy and making it available to everyone.