Blog 6

Growing up, we learn about the dangers of the internet. Our parents do their best to teach us that we shouldn’t post our personal information, yet as we grow older, most of us end up doing precisely the opposite. As the internet continues to be incorporated into our everyday lives, we are posting more and more information about ourselves, which makes us vulnerable to predators. Today I decided to see how visible I have made myself on the internet from the information I have posted on my social media. I started by logging out of my social media and Google accounts and then did a basic search for myself. I have one word for my results… Yikes! 
First, I used Google to simply search my name, Rachel McCann. Luckily, there is a famous New Zealand field hockey midfielder that consumes the majority of the results, but I still appear as the second image, as seen in the photo below to the left.  I scroll further through the images to find another picture of me, as shown below to the right.

Both photos additionally show my twitter handle. If anybody was looking to find me on social media, this quickly shows them my twitter name allowing them access to me through that platform. Additionally, my twitter is not private, meaning they can access everything about me on that platform. Besides, my pictures and twitter handle nothing else came from this search. All the website links produced just showed social media platform lists of all the Rachel McCanns that are present on that platform. Now, if the individual knows where I am from, that will allow them to narrow down that broad search. 
I decided to begin searching my name with things such as where I am from. The addition of words such as CNU and Goochland, in addition to my name, yielded more significant results. When I searched “Rachel McCann Goochland” the very first image to pop up was my picture on LinkedIn. In addition to my picture, it showed that the image was from my LinkedIn account and the name of the place I currently work. The second picture was from a local newspaper to Goochland called the Goochland Gazette. The article displayed was discussing me from when I played soccer in high school and displayed a picture of me. Going back to the URL web search, the entire first page produced by Google was of me. It provided my LinkedIn account, my Facebook account, all of the Goochland Gazette articles written about me, and my soccer statistics. If anybody searched my name and my hometown, they easily gained access to a ton of information about my life. When clicking on the Facebook link it produced a ton of information about me as seen in the picture below that individuals are able to see even without being my friend on the platform. 

It is scary to think that anybody can obtain this information so easily. 
I then Googled “Rachel McCann CNU” this had about the same amount of results as me Googling my name with my hometown. The entire first page of Google results was about me. The results produced my LinkedIn account, Facebook, when I made the dean’s list and my best dance crew change.org account. A few other web links popped up for females that go to CNU that either had my first name or my last name. For images, I found not just pictures of myself, but pictures of people that also go to CNU that I have interacted with over social media. You can see the image results produced in the picture below.

 This is concerning because people cannot just see me, but they can access me through my friends as well. 
Lastly, I searched my name with specific social media platforms. For platforms where my social media is on the private such as Facebook and Instagram, nothing popped up of me. I think that just typing my name, there are so many other Rachel McCann’s in the world that it isn’t able to narrow down to just me, and I am not influential enough on social media to be the first result to populate. For social media that I am public on, such as Twitter, a few pictures of me do populate. My Twitter profile also populates under the URL search. Although it is satisfying knowing that I did not populate Facebook or Instagram results, the fact that I populate Twitter can give anybody information they need to narrow down their search for other platforms. 
Think about how when your female friends or guy friends see a cute girl or guy, and how quickly they are able to find that individual on social media. I know you all know what I am talking about. We typically conduct this search innocently just trying to connect with somebody we are attracted to. Now think about the people that are not innocently conducting this search. It is terrifying how much information we are giving people about ourselves. People are able to do anything with this information. Social media has both its positive and negative effects. Being able to post and share our content is something we have grown to love, but with that also comes consequences. In the reading, Social media, online Sharing, & the Ethical Complexity of Consent in Revenge Porn, it states, “Social media excels at allowing users to instantly share their thoughts and feelings, often without much reflection about the wisdom or value of such communications.” (Stroud & Henson, 2017) This remains true after cyber-stalking myself. I post things online without much reflection. 
After conducting these basic searches, I realize that I should be more aware of the information I am providing to social media. I post my places of work and school to be easily found by friends and acquaintances, but I need to be more conscious of the people that may use this information to harm me. We all create some kind of digital media footprint because it is inevitable in today’s world to not. The issue here is some footprints are more prominent than others, possibly putting ourselves in harm’s way. How big is your digital media footprint? 

Stroud, S. R., & Henson, J. A. (2017). Social media, online sharing, & the ethical complexity of consent in revenge porn: In the dark side of social media: A consumer psychology perspective. (Edited by Angeline Close Scheeinbaum). Routledge.