Digital Footprint

About

Digital Footprint is a slang term used to describe the information about any given person that exists and can be found online due to their internet activity. Throughout the 2000s, web users were warned to be mindful of their digital footprints and what they post online, as it can be hard to remove certain information from the web after it's been posted, especially as time passes. The term became popularized in memes and online discourse over the course of the 2010s and later became a joke term on TikTok in the 2020s, used to both ironically and sincerely call people out for posting content they might regret posting later in life.

Origin

The term "digital footprint" is a derivative of other types of metaphorical "footprints" that people leave, such as the "environmental footprint" people create when they do things that either harm or help the environment at large, like recycling. It is unclear who first coined the term "digital footprint," but it has existed online since at least the mid-2000s. In 2007, PEW Research^[1] published a piece on digital footprints, one of the earliest known uses of the term.

Spread

The idea of the digital footprint has appeared in memes throughout the 2000s, often in jokes about how hard it is to erase or the desire to erase it. For example, on January 12th, 2016, YouTuber Internet Society posted a video on "why you should care about your digital footprint," gaining over 200,000 views in six years (shown below, left). On July 1st, YouTuber GDST posted a video explaining the idea of the digital footprint and described how to care for it, gaining over 356,000 views in a similar span of time (shown below, right).

On December 16th, 2019, Redditor parleyvoo posted an I May Not Show It meme to /r/INTP^[2] about how much they wanted to delete their digital footprint and head to the woods, captioned, "Bear tracks >>> digital footprints," gaining over 656 upvotes in two years (shown below, left). On October 3rd, 2020, Twitter^[3] user @reactjpg posted a similar meme (shown below, right).

On February 9th, 2022, Instagram^[4] user parasocialism posted a meme about ruining your digital footprint, gaining over 12,300 likes in a week (shown below).

Digital Footprint Discourse on TikTok

The idea of the digital footprint increasingly became the subject of jokes and discussions on TikTok in 2020 and the following years as users made videos explaining the idea, sharing how to alter one's digital footprint and posting regrettable moments that added to their digital footprints, as well as making memes about it.

On July 2nd, 2021, TikToker @kenziecait posted a video describing how she was cast on a singing show and how the producers looked over her "entire digital footprint" beforehand, giving her a multiple-page list of posts she needed to delete to get on the show, gaining over 1.7 million views in seven months (shown below).

On January 16th, 2022, TikToker @oddeyemayhem posted a video with the on-screen text "DIGITAL. FOOTPRINT." where he scrolls through the comments of a post showing a sexualized version of Freddy Fazbear captioned "press E to be fucked," showcasing a string of comments from a single user who repeatedly comments saying they've pressed "E," suggesting they need to be mindful of their digital footprint (shown below, left). The term and tag "#ditialfootprint" is regularly used on TikTok to call out videos and content like this for being potentially damaging to their digital footprint (additional example shown below, right).

On January 30th, TikToker @merelyashley posted a video offering tips on how to "clean up" your digital footprint, gaining over 700,000 views in two weeks (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References