Digital reputation

By eSafety Commissioner | Updated: 27th April, 2017 | 2 min read

our digital reputation is defined by your behaviours in the online environment and by the content you post about yourself and others.

Tagged photos, blog posts and social networking interactions will all shape how you are perceived by others online and offline, both now and in the future.

A poor digital reputation can affect your friendships, relationships and even your job prospects, so it is very important that you are aware of what picture you are painting of yourself online and protect your digital reputation today.

What do I need to know?

Once information makes its way online it can be difficult to remove and can be easily and quickly shared around.
Images and words can be misinterpreted and altered as they are passed around.
Content intended for your small group of friends can cause issues when shared with others outside the group.
You need to consider how you manage both your messages and images and those of others.
Your privacy settings on social media sites need to be managed in order to protect your digital reputation.

Protecting your digital reputation

Stop and think about any content before you post or send.
Treat others online as you would like to be treated.
Set your profile to private—and check every now and then to make sure the settings haven’t changed.
Keep an eye on photos tagged by your friends and remove ones that are offensive.

Remember your online information could be there forever and your personal information may end up being seen by people you don’t know, including potential employers.

Can you clean up a digital reputation?

Cleaning up your digital reputation can be a difficult task but it is not impossible. You may not be able to erase the past, but you can build a better image of yourself online over time. There are thousands of online articles that can provide you with excellent guidance on how to go about cleaning up your digital reputation.

© Commonwealth of Australia 2017. Published by the Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner and freely available at: https://esafety.gov.au/esafety-information/esafety-issues/digital-reputation. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives 2.5 Australia Licence

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