A current phenomena is quietly surging in the back ground of school communities. School constituents are creating and sharing content about schools online. Schools and individuals are leaving craters of content in digital forms, discoverable to the world at ones finger tips know as digital footprints. According to Madden, Fox and Smith (2009) “Unlike footprints left in the sand at the beach, our online data trials often stick around long after the tide has gone.”

According to Grunwald Associates (2010) “students report that one of the most common topics of conversation on the social networking scene is education” (p.1). Creators of such content can be a PR delight if mentions about education are positive, constructive and add value, however, if unchecked and negative, content can destroy and undermine school district public relations programs. As more schools recognize the need for technology to add value to the teaching and learning process the amount of time spent online grows. Information is no longer locked away on book shelves to be accessed with ones library card; it is available anywhere, anytime in a variety of forms. Access to social media and networks is on the rise up 43 percent from 2009 (Nielsen, 2010). According to Nielsen (2010) “Americans spend nearly a quarter of their time on line on social networking sites and blogs.” What futurist Alvin Toffler (1970) predicted as a shift from manufacturing to an information-based society is alive and well (Kowalski, 2010). Online identities of who we are, what we do and by association what we know (Richardson, 2008) are increasing in importance as society shifts into this information-based age.

Information sharing through social media and web 2.0 tools allow individuals and groups to publish anywhere, anytime online. According to Michael Wesch (2009), “when media changes our conversations change.” Conversations are now mediated by machines, a video camera, text box or microphone creates anonymity and physical distance (Wesch, 2009). This in turn, allows both critics and supporters to participate in public conversations like never before. With 50 million tweets per day (Twitter Blog), 500 million Facebook users (Facebook Press Room) and 24 hours of video being uploaded each minute on Youtube (Youtube Fact Sheet); schools and educators cannot ignore how participation in social media is impacting their digital footprints.

Ways schools are dealing with this are:

Ignoring
Reacting to and restricting
Producing and embracing
No matter which way a school chooses to approach information sharing, content will still be shared and created.

Using a search engine such as Google to find information out about an individual or organization is now common place. School public relations programs can no longer ignore their reputation online. Of the three approaches listed above only the last one (producing and embracing) has proactive tendencies to control what shows up in search engines. Chris Anderson popularized the concept of the Long Tail, overloading search engines with the information you want them to find out about so the likelihood of the bad is diminished.

Image From: John Hyde, leftclick

While raising their digital profile, schools that embrace the Long Tail concept allow individuals to learn the concept of digital citizenship. Digital citizenship is competence through the lenses of technology, individual, social, cultural and global awareness (Lindsay and Davis, 2010). There is a high need for individuals to know and be able to safely, responsibly and respectfully navigate, consume and contribute digital content online.

A proactive approach to digital footprints by schools and individuals can lead to learning from and with the changing way we use, create and live with information as it dynamically changes around us.