TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Social media applications have quietly yet constantly recorded the social activities you published since the first moment you typed-in your email and password to open an account in Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram a couple of years ago.

It would not pose any harm in the future if the trail of data you posted are all clean, but beware if your digital footprint is deemed the contrary.

Communication practitioner Bagus Sudarmanto in a seminar on ‘the smart use of social media’ explained that the trail of data you left behind in the form of shareable internet history, files, or comments in; Google search, Youtube, Facebook, or Twitter are kept and will forever stay online.

Read: 4 Social Media Ethics to Avoid Legal Issue

The thousands of data you personally left behind online, according to Bagus, can either help or ruin a person’s future or career. He revealed that 70 percent of companies will conduct an online research prior to recruitments with 66 percent of them sorting a person’s digital footprint through Facebook.

Another statistic to further prove that digital footprints matters is a study found that 70 percent managers rejected a candidate based on online information while 85 percent managers’ decision making is heavily influenced by someone’s positive digital footprint.

Bagus reminded social media users that social media activities do affect real life if not used wisely. He suggested people acquaint and adhere to journalistic ethical codes to avoid leaving behind a bad digital footprint.

Susandijani