The Sunday Mail
Dr Samuel Chindaro
Consistent with global trends, Zimbabwe has experienced a marked growth in the use of social media and the Internet in the past 10 years.
However, recent developments regarding adoption and application of the digital sphere demonstrate that individuals and organisations should carefully consider before publishing or sharing content. One should be wary that it may just come back to haunt them some day!
The game-changing Operation Restore Legacy saw social media activists become ghosts of their former selves as the past boomeranged. As the cornerstone of any democracy, freedom of speech empowers the general populace to freely express themselves in various forms. However, in today’s digital world, any individual/organisation leaves a permanent digital footprint, a trail which will be visible for generations to come.
The pace of change that swept across Zimbabwe in the past month demonstrated that going with the wind and publishing opinion without restraint for the sake of re-tweets and “likes” can be disastrous. The internet is unforgiving. A digital footprint is online information about a person either posted by that person or others, intentionally or unintentionally. It is your online history pertaining to all the stuff you leave behind as you use and surf the Internet.
Online, a huge part of our daily lives is recorded on some sort of electronic database, and what happens online is beyond our control! Unlike footprints in the sand that can be blown away by the wind or washed away by waves from the ocean, digital footprints can be permanent.
Files, images and videos, including pre-Internet articles, are being uploaded thus reincarnating historical footprints. Through your digital footprint, you are broadcasting what you look like, where you work, where you have been, who you know, your hobbies and, of course, your opinions on various topics.
This is accessible to anyone, including strangers! In November 2017, a lot of politicians, activists and “clickivists” found themselves flip-flopping on their analysis and commentary on the unfolding political situation in Zimbabwe faster than the Karate Kid’s punches. They found themselves navigating from the murky waters of “the Crocodile is finished” to the “return of the Crocodile”. While this was the norm in politics before the digital age, the meandering path was not captured and it was easier for turncoats to shift positions.
Many analysts were caught out; embarrassingly so. Recordings by a local businessman, for example, should provide lessons to public figures on the damage that the digital world can wreak on a reputation. While the businessman tried frantically to dissociate himself with the old order, digital evidence was embarrassingly overwhelming.
Another example is Professor Jonathan Moyo whose fall from grace is well-documented on Twitter, thanks to his Twitter-activism and available digital publications. Prominent MDC Alliance leaders were also caught up in the digital footprint’s unforgiving character.
After openly praising Operation Restore Legacy and President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s elevation on Twitter and Facebook, a number of them tried to somersault (apparently after failing to make it into Government as they had hoped). Their digital activity was thrown back into their faces, exposing them as hypocrites.
It is only a matter of time when future influential figures will find their teenage antics on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, back-spinning to haunt them. Every person could be a victim of his/her own digital footprint, but public figures like politicians face a greater risk.
For such people, every piece of information can be latched onto and be used to cause harm at times. Counterintuitively, though, digital space remains overlooked by naïve public figures who venture onto it without risk assessment. News stories, profiles and social media accounts offer a wealth of data that may reveal an individual’s interests, whereabouts and extended social circle.
Social media accounts unwittingly divulge sensitive information, even where targets themselves refrain from digital activity. Family members are often prime information targets of hostile third parties. It does not take much effort to assemble a family tree and then track and monitor the circle’s digital activities.
And apart from drawing negative Press attention, certain posts expose information which can pose physical risks, too. The burglary at the house of millionaire footballer John Terry in March 2017 is a typical example of how social media posts can expose one to harm or prejudice.
Terry’s mansion was targeted after he posted pictures of himself and his wife on the French Alps, telling his 3,4 million Instagram followers that he was having a “great few days away skiing with the family”. A gang of four subsequently used that information to steal designer goods worth more than £400 000 from the mansion!
It is difficult to erase anything permanently from the Internet. Therefore, it is critical to be aware of what is being circulated about an individual, their business or family. Some websites build a list of various devices one would have used to visit them.
While this can help secure one’s account, it is important to understand information being collected regarding your habits. Make no mistake about it – the web is listening every time you use it!
It’s important that you understand what you’re leaving behind when you visit any website. Further, social networking opens the door to the possibility of being cybervetted when applying for a job. Cybervetting or online vetting is the practice of using information found on the Internet to determine whether a person is a viable candidate for employment.
It is just another tool in the box to gather information about an applicant’s behaviour to verify whether his/her behaviour online is the same as his/her day-to-day life. With one google search of your name, prospective clients, employers and co-workers can get a snapshot of your history.
Most employers are using this snapshot to screen job applicants and eliminate candidates. Expect more and more organisations to use cybervetting to avoid surprises. It is, therefore, critical to know that what you say or do online is permanent.
It can be a great opportunity for you to build your brand or conversely, use it for self-destruction. The flipside suggests that if you decide to go off radar, removing your online trail, you will cease to exist in a world where individuals are increasingly judged on the number of their followers, online engagement or influence.
The days of being digitally invisible are over, and anecdotally, some circles view not having an online presence with suspicion. As the world increasingly turns online for information, digital silence can be obstructive in conducting effective due diligence or establishing a reputation.
Every day, we contribute to a growing portrait of who we are online; a portrait that is probably more public than most of us assume. So, no matter what you do online, it is important that you know what kind of trail you are leaving and the possible effects. Lessons should be drawn from Zimbabwe over the past month when a number of individuals scampered, trying to align themselves with the new order as digital evidence remained unforgiving.
Your digital footprint paints a picture of who you are. Before posting online, ask yourself whether the content portrays how you really want to be perceived. On the other hand, creating a delusional online version of yourself is possibly the worst thing you can do. Trying to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.
Social media and the Internet are enablers that, when used correctly, can offer each and every one of us a wealth of opportunities with no side effects.
However, the Internet is unforgiving. Before texting, tweeting or sharing information, consider how you would feel if the material went viral. If your need for approval is driving you to share questionable material, then you should have zero expectation of privacy in the cyberspace.
Thanks to screen capture, even a deleted post can still be retrieved and shared. Therefore, before you click “post” on socio-economic and political topics, think about your digital legacy! You can certainly not mount “Operation Restore Legacy” in the digital world.
Dr Samuel Chindaro holds a PhD in Electronics (University of Kent), MSc in Electronics and IT (University of Birmingham) and a B.Eng. Hons in Electronic Engineering (NUST). He is also a Chartered Engineer (Institution of Engineering and Technology). He wrote this article for The Sunday Mail.
