Accountability and Your Digital Footprint

As digital media progresses, your social media presence will increasingly shape how you're viewed as an employee, consumer, and individual. Just ask serial entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban. In a video for Inc.com, Cuban outlines a future where privacy on social media is disappearing faster than you can say, "delete those tweets!" As he puts it, "every person you retweet, repin, repost, renote, or regram on social media defines who you are." Your online presence will have an even greater impact on your job prospects. Cuban explains, "they're going to run an analysis of you and use it as a psychological profile."

Your digital footprint might be more important than your driver's license in identifying who you are.

Everyone, whether job-seeking or not, should be more mindful of their online image. While it may sound ominous, the future is already here. From advertisers targeting you using Facebook data to Netflix suggesting movies, your digital footprint may become more significant than your driver's license in defining who you are. Predictive software and AI are advancing rapidly. This isn't Minority Report; this is 2016.

Cuban highlights that even if you can't see it, a comprehensive profile of your online activity exists—the good, the bad, and the embarrassing. So how can you ensure your online personality is reputable? Be cautious about what you post and share. Once you send out a picture, text, or post, it no longer belongs to you. As Cuban says, "you have zero control over it." It's not just about hiding photos of you holding a beer; anything posted publicly is fair game.

For those seeking absolute privacy, the only option might be to move to the forest. But if you're using social media, the internet, or a mobile device, you'll be held increasingly accountable. Your web presence is your identity and career—it's time people understood that.