Digital Narrative Footprints

 “A digital footprint is the work used to describe the trail, traces or “footprints” that people leave online.  This is information transmitted, such as forum registration, e-mails and attachments, uploading videos or digital images and any other form of transmission or information—all of which leaves traces of personal information about yourself available to others.” (Mnakamoto, 2009)

Ask.fm is literally a narrative of the individual. The layout of Ask.fm is seemingly the same concept of twitter in the sense that the user has their own newsfeed and profile.  If the individual wanted to go back and trace something previously said or find an old response it would only be a matter of scrolling along the page. 

As I explained in my last blog about my friend Tim who had agreed for me to meet him after an anonymous conversation on ask.fm.  When he realized it was me he decided that I go to the gym with him and endure a hard session of back and biceps; which I regretfully paid for over the following days to come. That’s commitment to a social experiment, to say the least from a lazy couch potato.

I asked Tim to enlighten me of what he thought of the whole ask.fm concept and if he liked the idea of having his personal stories being publically exploited.  “I don’t feel as though I’m being exploited since I’m the one who controls what I actually allow to be posted publically regardless of what questions are being asked.”  Tim is still however creating a narrative based on questions that anonymous users are asking him.  He may answer the questions honestly or untruthfully to any degree of detail that he wishes, which essentially means that he is writing his own perspective of how he wants to be viewed by others.  His own narrative digital footprint for others to find.  If someone else were to make a judgment or assumption based purely on the content that Tim has on display they might interpret Tim’s character differently to how Tim was trying to be viewed. Thus this social media network does not only create a false perspective of the individual it also allows the individual to create a false character based on what and how they answer the questions. (Gadkari, 2013)

Personally for me I have obviously been spending more time throughout the day on ask.fm to understand and get better acquainted with the online space around me.  I have found that there is a sense of adventure when engaging in a conversation or asking someone a question because I don’t know who it is.  Sometimes I feel like I can be completely honest because I’m being myself - “my true identity” but on the other hand I think to myself that because it is anonymous I can have the freedom of being the person I want to be instead of facing the reality. 

Like different cultures our generation has created a space for our stories to be told and the footprint we leave behind and be the make or break for the individual sooner or later in life.

Bibliography

Gadkari, P. (2013). Ask.fm unvailes changed.

Mnakamoto. (2009). Digital footprint and Creed.