My Digital Footprint

The sharing of my life on the internet might seem odd to people. I have created a whole slew of story lines people might say about my internet presence. I want to shed some light on my history of sharing things on the internet. It started long before Facebook, even before Myspace.

There were two other platforms that I shared things when I was in middle school and high school on the internet. We are talking late 90s and early 00s. The first space I started connecting with people was Hotmail chat rooms. I remember creating a new email whenever I got bored with the one I was using. I am not sure the total number of emails I made.  In my mind, I have always joked there was 17. The only one I remember is luckrubberducky87, whether that is correct or not I will never know.

I have memories of feeling bored and lonely most of my time in either house when I didn’t have any friends over. I am not sure what was going on with the rest of my family that I felt that way, but either which way my feelings are real for me. I remember using the chat rooms as a moment to connect with someone, anyone. I remember waiting to see who came online, and if they would talk with me. Whether these people were who they said they were I will never know.

The other internet space I used before Myspace was an online diary. It was essentially one of the first blog concepts. You could be nobody. You could create a username, and no one would know who you are unless it was obvious, or you shared with people your page.

This was my first experience typing out my feelings. I found it very freeing. However, I have a history of being passive aggressive. I used this space to air my grievances, but in a passive aggressive way. Some of my “friends” would catch on to the underlying messages I was dropping down, and then they would use that to fuel the fire I was already feeling in my cracked relationships.

I am not sure why the online diary sharing ended. I never really wrote my feelings since then. I have a feeling I stopped sharing, as others invalidated my feelings. By the time another online platform came around, I was different in how I perceived myself and my feelings.

Myspace, what a trip that was, ha-ha! I felt so empowered to be a big badass bitch on that site. I was in the beginning of my dark and twisty days. I had an attitude of “love me or hate me it’s still an obsession.”  I decided I was a force to be reckoned with at that time. I was done trying to make people like me. If I felt someone didn’t like me, I made sure I lived up to that perception.

I signed up for Facebook the minute you could do so with an email that wasn’t from a university. I dropped Myspace quickly after that. Looking back on my almost 20-year-old FB memories makes me laugh at myself. I was sooooo passive aggressive!! Let me post lyrics to a tragic love song so that guy I like knows I want him and feel he does not like me… and things like that.  I can guarantee those posts were not registered by the right people in the right meaning.

I do not delete things from Facebook. In a way this platform has become my online diary, or digital scrapbook. It has all my adult life moments and memories in one place. I love seeing my memories, even the sad/bad ones. It reminds me of how I started, where I went, and how I got to where I am today.

I have tried to signup for Twitter a handful of times. I am sure I have quite a few accounts. I cannot tell you what emails I have used, or usernames. I have never really found Twitter to be something I need to have to scroll or share. I have moved on from bothering at this point.

I started my Instagram in 2013. I didn’t really understand it, as I was obsessed with Facebook then. But I kept it open all those years. When I started to Partner with BODi (Beachbody) in 2018, I began to use that site more. I found I loved the filters with that site! I also enjoy the formatting for the stories. It has become my first space to share on my page and stories, and then I replicate those posts to Facebook. So, if you follow me on one site, no need to follow me on the other, as they are the same.

When I started with BODi, I followed posting like my coaches suggested. I needed to post on my wall 2-3 times a day. I was to post in my stories 10 times a day. I needed to share things of value. I needed to share my story. I needed to share how BODi services and products impacted my life. I should not share only BODi, as that is too salesy. I was told to share 5 other areas of my life.

This was in 2018. I did what they said until 2021/2022. I am not sure when, but I started to aim for only posting 1 time per day on my pages. I also stopped posting my 2x a week BODi posts. I now usually only share my before and afters for each workout program. I also stopped messaging people to “join my fit team.”

But I am still sharing my story. I am posting with intention. I share good things in my life. I share hardships I face, and how I have overcome them. I have learned that I have a positive impact in peoples’ lives’, even though I might not get thousands of likes.  I am often told through messages and in person how I have affected someone’s life in a positive way by sharing my truths.

I learned last autumn that your internet presence truly does matter. I was asked to serve on the board of directors for a local non-profit. The CEO reached out to a friend of mine on Facebook to help get us connected. I learned that she found me from my accounting firm’s website. I wrote my bio on that site myself. She then looked me up on social media and liked my vibe.

The moral of the story is I have been sharing my life with the internet since I was a preteen. This is not a new concept for me. The way the world is headed digitally, and what I am aiming for in the future, I might as well get my story on the web in my words, rather than waiting for someone else to share their perspective of me.  I am curious and excited to see where my digital footprint takes me from here.