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Looking at the beautiful waters and mountainous terrain of Puerto Rico, Jason realized he loved what he did. Jason had decided to start vlogging his travels two years ago. He’d wanted to travel and show the world to the world. His main goal was to destigmatize various myths and stigmas about lower-income countries. He would visit and try the different cuisines they offered and explore the country's different terrains and nature. On his journey, he met a lot of people, and personally, that was his favorite part. He had friends all over like Valeria from Honduras, Dominic from Nicaragua, Adriana from Guatemala, Santiago from Venezuela, and more. In Puerto Rico, he’d just met a nice guy named Jose.

Jose had a little stand in the center of San Juan, here he’d sell his produce and little gadgets. Here Jason had tried some of the best mango, coconut, and passion fruit he’d ever had. Along with the great treat, Jose explained to Jason how to get to a few of the hidden gems of Costa Rica, like the Yunque Forest Natural Waterslides were one of them. The slides were about 2 hours away so Jason would have to travel to them, so he hitched a ride and headed towards some fun. And of course, during this whole adventure, he was recording every detail. He could not wait to enjoy these magical slides.

After having such a great experience it was time to edit his video and upload it as the first of his Puerto Rico series. He spent his afternoon editing and later uploaded his finished video to his YouTube channel, Travelwith_Jason. He then went to sleep in his hammock with the stars shining above. When he woke up he checked his channel to see how his video was doing. He could not believe his eyes, the video had reached 1 million views overnight, it had even reached number six in the top ten most-watched new videos. Looking at the comments he saw Puerto Rican natives praising him for showing off their country, and many more saying how it made them want to visit the beautiful country. He laughed in joy and started his day with an extra pep in his step, he couldn’t wait to record some more.

Later that day while exploring more of the stands in San Juan Jason received a call from the World Travelers of America. They had seen his viral video and liked his content, so they asked him if he would be willing to join their team, and in return, they would sponsor Jason. Jason could truly not believe this, he would be able to continue traveling the world with no worry about funding, after clarifying that he would still be able to post whatever content he accepted. He would be able to continue pursuing his mission of proving the wrong stigmas and myths of lower-income countries and show what they truly had to offer.

He was now wrapping up in Puerto Rico and Central America overall. He left with great pride and joy, and with a special place for Puerto Rico in his heart for being the place where he was offered his business deal. Little did he know that he had greater things coming for him. He decided to head to the Middle Eastern countries next, maybe Saudi Arabia.

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Your digital footprint has a big impact on you. One bad thing you post online can cause your plans to change drastically. One should think about what they post as it can affect you negatively and positively. You can either lose the opportunity to enter your dream college or have an even bigger chance of joining.

Myka is 18 years old and lives in Texas. She enjoys doing and teaching others how to do their makeup, hair, and nails. Myka just graduated from high school, and she already knew she couldn’t attend college. Myka has 3 younger sisters and her mom works very hard to provide for her and her siblings, so it was very hard for Myka’s mom to pay for her college.

During these months after Myka graduated, she began to focus more on her passion for beauty. Myka’s sisters always ask her to paint their nails and do their hair. Myka enjoys doing this with her siblings and feels like it's something that brings them together. One day, Myka’s friend Sam went over to her house. Myka started doing one of her sister's hair and walked Sam step by step on how to make a Dutch braid. Sam then tried it on Myka’s other sister and was surprised at how great the outcome was. Sam was very impressed and encouraged Myka to post videos on social media. Myka had never thought about it, but she thought it would be a good idea as she loves teaching others.

Myka’s first video was how to make a bubble braid which she posted on TikTok. Myka thought it would at most be seen by the few friends and family she followed, but to her surprise, she had 10,000 views in only 5 hours. Myka could not believe it. She was very excited and told Sam all about the news. The next day Sam was over again and this time Myka was going to do her makeup to post on TikTok. Myka did a very elegant makeup on Sam. She made sure to be very descriptive about the steps she did and showed everything she utilized to the camera. Myka was so happy to post the video and her fans loved her content. She received many amazing compliments. Myka’s family and even her past classmates asked her for more information on her work as they wanted to book with her. Myka was very honored that they loved her work just as much as she did. Her sisters even became her helpers when recording, and caring for them became less of a hassle. In one of her videos in which she was doing her mom's nails, Myka spoke about her life problems with money. She talked about how much she would’ve loved to go to college and earn a degree in cosmetology. Myka went to sleep very sad that night.

The next morning Myka woke up to many comments on her recent TikTok from famous companies. Companies like E.L.F., Rare Beuty, and even her dream school, Aveda Arts & Sciences Institute of Dallas. The institute and companies had asked her to check her DM’s. E.L.F. and Rare Beauty asked her for her address to send her some of their products. The institute had asked for her phone number. Myka sent her information to them and a bit later she received a call. It was the school asking her if she would like a fully funded scholarship at their school. Myka couldn’t believe it she was so happy to hear the news.

That fall season Myka would be entering her dream school. It was something she didn’t expect at all but she couldn’t be any more grateful for the opportunity!

This is one of the many occasions on which your digital footprint can have a positive impact.

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Before posting anything on social media you should consider if this could negatively or positively affect you later on. It can create multiple opportunities, in school and it can help you secure a job. Social Media can show people how you want to be seen. It can create a respectable and responsible persona. Take the story of Jennifer Wallace who did something great!

Jennifer Wallace was an aspiring author, who as a beginner wrote short stories with few chapters. Jennifer like many people had social media accounts, her two main apps were Instagram and TikTok. On her account, she would update her loyal readers on new chapter updates and would re-post funny/relatable videos. Of course, behind that life of social media, Jennifer was a normal high school girl with a big dream, to become famous like her favorite author Mark Twain. Since she was a senior and was near graduating she applied to her dream school, The University of Missouri, where she would become a professional author.

In her free time again she was just an unnamed author who wrote short stories, about romance, danger, mystery, etc. Jennifer could write a story about anything and make it super entertaining. She felt as if she had magic in her fingertips, the ideas for a story would go to her head they would go straight to her fingers and you could see her just typing away and she wouldn’t stop until the story was done. She would update her readers on new chapters and at what time they would be published. The best thing about Jennifer is how punctual she is. She was never once late un updating her books and because of this, she grew a loyal fanbase who not only loved her stories but loved how responsible and honest she was to them.

After a couple of weeks of reading, she had finally gotten an email from the school of her dreams. She was asked to come to the school for an interview and bring her best stories for a review. To she was nervous was an understatement, she was terrified, multiple thoughts ran across her head, such as: “What if they don’t like my books?” “What if I’m not accepted?” “What if they say I write like a child and will never be as great as the Mark Twain!?”

Breathe, she had to calm herself down and get herself fully prepared for the interview of her life. Her Interview was on Friday, which meant she had two full days to prepare. The first thing she did was go on her writing web page and see which books her readers liked the most. After choosing them and going over them once more just to make sure they were perfect, she chose her outfit and waited for her special day to come. When the day finally came, she woke up early, did her morning routine, and drove to the university. As shown on her social media she was punctual and never missed anything, she arrived five minutes early and was asked to wait in a lobby. When it was her turn for the interview she walked in confidently and greeted the president of the university. They talked for a bit as he asked her the main questions what are your dreams, who is you’re hero?, and tell me about yourself? She answered them without hesitation. As she handed in her printed-out work for him he smiled as he read through the pages of stories.

“These are amazing Ms. Wallace.”

“Thank you so much, I’m glad you enjoy them.”

“Of course, I can’t disagree with your readers, you are an amazing author.” She got nervous all of a sudden, he knew about her online persona.

“Yes we did some research on you before your interview, we always do this with students who want to enroll in our school.” She gulped why was she so nervous, she never posted anything bad just story updates and funny videos.

“And I must say, Ms. Wallace, online you paint yourself as a respectable and responsible person who can always be trusted, and talking to you now I can see you are the same person. It would be an honor if you were a part of our school.”

Someone pinch her, was she dreaming? No, this was real, she was getting to the school of her dreams!

“Thank you so much! I won’t let you down!”

“I know you won’t.”

And that is one of the many reasons why your digital footprint can positively impact your life.

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Social media can either positively or negatively impact a person's life. Using social media for good can give you so many more opportunities than a person who doesn't care what they post. For example, Anna did the right thing. Anna began social media when she was entering seventh grade. Unlike most kids, Anna was very cautious about what she posted on all of her apps. She loved social media and posting her life. The reason Anna did the right thing is because she only posted positive content.

Anna had a Tik Tok, Instagram, and VSCO. On each app she used it to post her daily life including cleaning, school work, being out with friends, going to youth group, and her daily devotions. She never posted any negative comments, lyrics, or sayings. Which would benefit her in the long run.

She always dreamed of becoming a doctor in the future, starting in 3rd grade, that was her only goal. She worked hard in school and strived to be the best version of herself while showing the public how they could become a better version of themselves.

When she entered her freshman year she started to realize she was getting a large amount of followers every month. This brought some hardships for Anna though. High schoolers were not nice about her getting fame. They started saying mean things to her about how she was cringy and embarrassing, but that didn’t stop her. She continued to post because she loved sharing her life.

Anna’s determination to keep doing what she loved would pay off in the future, but she had no idea. With all of her determination, she gained over 2 million followers in the next two years. By her junior year, she was having brand deals, trips, and many opportunities an average high schooler would have.

By her senior year, she was applying for Ivy League colleges which were very competitive to get into. While applying she realized the last 6 years were going to be so beneficial to her. If she went down the wrong path on social media she would have denied many of her top choices. The colleges she applied to saw her positive content and knew she would be a good fit on the campus.

During all four years of college, she continued posting on all platforms but this time added some of her classes. Some things she posted were study tips, biology facts, and reasons why she loved Pre-Med. With these posts, she helped millions of other students who were struggling with college or high school. While Anna was applying to medical school she had a great name after her. All through college she worked on social media and kept a good GPA which showed medical schools she was a hard, determined worker. Anna ended up getting into an amazing medical school due to all of her years of being positive and influential. Even after medical school, finding a job was very easy for Anna due to her large following. She had so many opportunities due to years of social networking with other doctors.

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Sam was a college student at the University of Florida. He loved animals and wanted his future to reflect that. His dream job was to work at a zoo and take care of animals every single day. In college, he studied zoology and enjoyed it very much. He was often left stressed out because he didn’t know how to get his name out there for people to see. He wanted this career path so badly but didn’t know how to get a running head start.

As Sam continued in classes, he often took trips to the Gulf Coast of Florida to see the wildlife. He often saw fish, stingrays, and turtles in the water. He loved being in nature and just soaking it all in. One day, while he was taking one of his short trips to the beach, he noticed there would be an event taking place. The event was trying to bring awareness to trash in the sea. They would be gathering volunteers to help clean up a small river that flowed into the ocean, near where Sam often visited. Sam grew very interested, because of his love for animals and the great outdoors. He decided he would sign up as a volunteer and help out for the day.

A few weeks later, when the event finally arrived, Sam was excited. He had looked forward to volunteering for weeks and he couldn’t wait to help clean up the world. As the event started Sam and his team started picking up trash. They started at the river and ended where it flowed into the ocean. There was trash everywhere, even on the popular beach where tourists often visited. Sam loved the experience, no matter the heat and hard work.

By the end of the day, the beach was clean. The trash had been picked up and the sun was starting to set. Sam took some last photos of the day and started heading for home. When Sam got home he thought about how great of a day it was. He had so much fun with the group he had worked so hard with and wouldn’t forget the experience he had that day. He wanted to share his amazing experience with others so he decided to make a Facebook post about the day. He posted a few photos of him cleaning up trash and a before and after photo of the river and the beach. In the caption he wrote, “Had a great day cleaning up the river and beach to make a safer habitat for the marine life!” Sam then went to sleep knowing his hard work may not have had a giant impact, but he did what he could do to help.

The next morning, Sam woke up to a blown-up phone. His post had gone viral. Thousands of people shared and liked his post about cleaning up the local habitats for animals. He spent the morning reading through thousands of comments about how great of a person he was and how much he loved animals. Sam was beaming, not because of the newfound fame, but because of how he moved so many people to start caring about animals and their habitats. Sam spent the rest of the day excited until later that night he received a phone call that would change his life.

“Hello, is this Sam Thomas?”

“Yes it is”

“Good, my name is Skyler White and I am a manager at a local zoo in Miami. I saw your post about cleaning up the waters of Florida and I was wondering if you would be interested in coming down for an internship here at the zoo. We are always looking for people that truly care about animals.”

“That's great, I would love to take you up on that opportunity.”
Since then Sam has worked at the zoo for over 5 years. He manages the marine life section of the zoo and enjoys his job every single day. This all just goes to show that what you do and post on the internet will always come back to you, whether good or bad. Digital footprints will follow you forever, don’t make a mistake that will haunt you forever.

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Social media can be an extremely dangerous place. What you post can follow you everywhere. If you are not careful you can get into serious situations. It can affect your future in many different ways whether it is positively or negatively. Everything you post can stay forever even if you delete it.

In many instances, social media can be very positive. A close friend of mine has had a very positive impact on what she posted on social media. As long as I can remember she has been very active on social media. She always has something that she wants to share. She has a lot of followers and many people who look forward to seeing her posts.  She stays active by volunteering, being with her family, and hanging out with friends. She makes sure to keep her social media platform clean and to only post things that will uplift others. She never posted things that she wouldn't want younger children or her grandparents to see. She was aware of the impact social media would have on the rest of her life and was cautious about it.

When she got out of college she began applying for jobs. She wanted to become a lawyer at a very popular law firm. There were many people who applied for the job, but not many were selected for an interview. Since they were very impressed with her resume they decided to ask her to come for an interview.  They only called her and another person in for an interview. The other applicant did very well at her interview which made my friend nervous. She felt as if the other applicant was liked more by the interviewer. She felt very anxious about it and the next few days were hectic for her.

A few days later they were both called in for a second interview. Before the second interview, the people at the law firm did a background check on both of the applicants. The other girl didn't post much, but they found some things that were a little suspicious. They found a picture of her with alcohol from 8 years ago in which she was underage. She also posted pictures of her at parties while in college and tweets of her making fun of other people. The people at the law firm were not very impressed with how she presented herself on social media. When looking at my friends' social media platforms, they found a huge difference! They saw evidence of her volunteer work, her involvement with her family, and the positive quotes she posts on a day-to-day basis. Because of these factors, my friend ended up getting the job over the other applicant. The law firm liked that they didn't find anything suspicious about her on her social media platforms. It showed that she was a trusting person and had a good reputation.

By choosing to be responsible with what she posted, she was able to not only get a good job but also be a positive role model to those around her. This is a lesson that what you post does matter! You might think it is only going to be seen by friends but the truth is anyone who wishes to see it can find a way. You should always be careful and use social media responsibly!

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Carol Ranchers was an artist who loved to post her art online. She never thought she could do it for a job, but as the comments would flow in telling her that this could take her somewhere she decided to give it a try. She applied for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and included a portfolio full of her art, and a few weeks later she got a letter saying she was exempted. She knew Arts school was hard and grueling, but she stuck it out and continued to work for her dream. She found that she had an eye for digital media and marketing, and with this, she started to rebrand popular brands with her vision. She liked them so much she would post them to her social media with captions about how she loves the brand, and that she just wanted to show how she feels would be a positive way to rebrand it in her style. She got a large amount of positive feedback and she was sure that this had to be her path in life. She enrolled in more digital media classes, but everything that she turned in was bashed by her professors and she started to question o this was the path for her. There was no way she would give up this early without giving it a fair try, so she worked harder, spent more time on her art, and even spoke with the professors who kept telling her she just didn’t have an eye for it. This didn’t deter her at first, but after a while of being told she wasn’t good enough, she decided that it was time to switch back to her original plan of being a painter. Before she gave up she posted all of her hard-earned work once more to social media announcing that she was going to be posting more of her paintings soon and that she wanted to show them the last of her work, then she went to bed. In the morning, Carol checked her phone, and couldn’t believe what she saw. So many people were telling her to not give up, and the more she scrolled the more her spirits rose. All at once her world changed forever when she saw that little blue checkmark in front of the names of different businesses asking to work with her to promote their businesses. She was ecstatic and even contacted several of the companies agreeing to work with them. She brought all of this information to her digital media professor and he realized that maybe she just had a different eye for the art than he and even congratulated her. She moved on to be a successful digital media professional working with multiple large companies to not only rebrand but also to advertise their company to reach younger and older generations. Even though she was knocked down by her professor before she went to live a bountiful life she chose to post her artwork online and give it a chance to thrive.

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Your digital footprint can impact you in many ways, either good or bad. It depends on what you post and decide to share, your future college or job can look at and get a preconception of who you are without even knowing you. So by posting positive things about yourself and others can give your future a better chance to survive.

In the small town of Red Valley, Idaho a girl named Emma was an amazing photographer, but she didn’t think she was good enough to be a professional photographer. Her friends Paisley and Jordan, knew of her hobby and knew she was good enough to be a professional but Emma was too shy to show anyone, but her friends her work. As time went on, Paisley and Jordan wanted to help Emma, but they didn’t know how. Emma however, in her free time, went around her beautiful town of Red Valley and took pictures of the blossoming flowers in the City Park, the dogs jumping and catching frisbees in the dog park, and also loved taking pictures of her friends next to the blooming flower garden she had planted in her backyard. After she took her photos she loved to go home and edit them, making them look professional. After she was done editing she immediately took them to her friends, and they freaked out because these pictures were some of the best she had ever seen. Paisley and Jordan asked Emma if she would send the pictures to them. Paisley and Jordan then started an Instagram account for Emma where they started posting the pictures she took. They created the account and named Emma_Grace_Photography, Emma’s middle name was Grace, and that was Emma’s dream name for her photography business. At this point in time Emma didn’t know about any of this, so she continued to take photos about all sorts of nature and as she got more confident she started taking pictures of her friends and family. The more Emma took, the more her friends posted and the account blew up over night, and suddenly Emma_Grace_Photography was blowing up, Paisley and Jordan knew it was time to tell Emma what they had been up to. They came to Emma’s house one day after school, and showed her everything. Emma was speechless and didn’t know what to say, she didn’t know if she should be mad at her friends, or happy because her dream of becoming a professional photographer was becoming a reality. Emma only had one problem, to become a photographer she always dreamed she needed to go to school about editing, taking the right angles, and all other knowledge of photography. Although she was thrilled that her account was blowing up she got sad, because now she knew she was good enough to take amature photos, but not good enough or have enough money to get into the most prestigious photography school. She decided to put photography on the back burner for now, and tried to decide something else to do with her future. Jordan and Paisley were sad to see their friend so sad, so they decided to keep posting her photos and hope for the best. A couple months later, Paisley and Jordan went to post some more photos on the account, and saw they had a notification that was more peculiar than others, it was a DM. They opened it and it read, “Dear Emma_Grace_Photography I have been stalking your page for a while, and have been seeing some amazing work. I am very impressed with you and the photos you take without any extra experience. I have been looking for a new photographer to take a spot in my photography business. It has been growing rapidly and I want a new face with new ideas to come work for my team. I want you and your amazing skills. I know you're young, so as a bonus to get you to come, I will send you to any photography school of your choice, and pay for everything. I hope to see you write me back, and I would love to get in touch with you and see you join our team!” As soon as Paisley and Jordan read this they were thrilled and had to tell Emma. They told her and she was astonished and so happy with her friends, that they pushed her to be the best photographer she could and also to get her business started. After she accepted the job offer, she started school and loved it. She was finally happy and knew this is what she was supposed to be doing with her life.

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Your digital footprint can be positive or negative. It can give you many opportunities in life. As it can give you many opportunities in life it can also hurt you in the long run. For example, if you post videos or pictures of you drinking under the age where anyone can see, people all around the world can see this. Then when applying to colleges, they might not accept you because of this. Be cautious of what you post due to the outcome you may have.

Gemma loved making TikToks. She started with making Musicallys and then the app turned into TikTok. She loved making videos but her parents didn’t let her post anything. Gemma was 13 years old when she got a phone. As soon as she got a phone, her parents allowed her to have any app she wanted. This is when she discovered TikTok. She was scrolling one day and realized that her “for you” page was all influencers who influenced their daily lifestyle. Gemma wanted to do this. Gemma looked into what the requirements were to start doing this. Being an influencer on TikTok requires you to post so Gemma eventually got her parents to understand posting but her parents didn’t know what she was posting. She told her parents it was just going to be dance videos with her friends. Flash forward 3 years, Gemma was now 16 years old. Gemma gained 200,000 followers from all the TikToks she made with her friends. Her parents still didn’t know this. Since she gained over 10,00 followers as she needed for the influencer requirements through TikTok, she could start her dream life of being a TikTok influencer. She then started to post motivational videos of cleaning, getting ready, and other random videos that motivate people.

The support she gained from people was amazing. She never had hate on her videos and her followers always supported her. One day she went to the Mall of America and she was shopping for Christmas gifts for her family. She then met several people who were fans of her videos. She gained so much support while doing her dream.

Gemma gained a lot of self-confidence while doing this. She learned that she can look not her best on videos and she will still get support. Gemma also gained a lot of experience in the social media life. She figured out what content makes the most money, this way she can make as much money as she can. She also figured out how to satisfy people and meet their wants in her videos. She also learned that making content to post takes time and effort and it's not as easy as everyone thinks. Gemma learned alot about social media and loves her new style of life. She is only 16 years old and makes very good money.

Starting this at a young age Gemma found out what to post and what not to post. Gemma could have posted content that had explicit words in it and inappropriate videos but instead, she chose the right path. Making sure you post the right content is very important because it can change your life plans. Gemma started off her dream young and this shows she is a hard worker who loves to help/influence others. This can later on give her a better chance of receiving the dream job she wants. If she made wrong decisions when posting content then that could have affected her in a bad way in the future. Your present self impacts your future self. Don’t post what could affect you later on in life and make smart choices before publishing.

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Your digital footprint can have a good or bad impact on your future, but it can always come back and impact at some point in your life. Just like everything you upload on your social networks or anything you think is harmless, it may not be.

Shantel Gùzman was a teenager who was a feminist woman, she was fun, feminine, successful, and powerful at the same time, you could tell that she loved to look good, the girls as well as her classmates always asked her how she did to always look good and be like her and they would love a video about her giving the tips and they wanted to know what she did in her daily life to be like her. Shantel had been considering recording videos for TikTok since she wanted to be a recognized influencer. Then this teenager named Shantel Gúzman dreamed too much of being a recognized influencer, in the summer she decided to increase followers on her social accounts so she could be recognized and help other girls, she started making videos on TikTok about mini vlogs about what she did in her days, choosing outfits with her, getting ready with her in the morning, clothing tips, tips to be a successful woman and makeup. Then she began to gain followers because her mini vlogs and what she did daily were very entertaining, just like how she treated all her followers, how she motivated them to be feminist and powerful women, and how she put on her makeup and chose her outfit. , all the girls began to like her content, which had a very good impact on the community of women for her tips on clothing as well as makeup, for being a feminist woman. How it had a great impact on social networks She began to fight for women's rights and went to protest, ran campaigns, and began to be a recognized woman in the women's community for being an empowered person and equally feminine. Many people began to know her in a short time, many brands began to hire her to sponsor her. She was always a great student so she never had any problems with school, but she was very afraid of neglecting her studies because as she gained followers, they asked her for more and more work, more videos, and more campaigns, so she was in her senior year. , she was afraid that because her life was exposed by her vlogs, her protests for women's rights, and her beauty tips, she would not be accepted into any university because of everything she was involved in. But when she sent her application to some of the universities that she wanted to get into, she saw all the movement and how good she was with the women's community and that she was someone successful who motivated others. The universities she applied to, seeing everything she had done, loved her, and she was received with great happiness. Shantel Gúzman continued studying and continuing with her life on social networks.

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Your digital footprint can have both a positive and negative effect on you. Many people look at your social media, so you have to be careful of what you post. It can affect your future job in an instant just from one post. Even if you delete it immediately, it is still online and can be tracked. But, it can be used positively. One example of this is Susan’s story which is fiction.

Susan is a senior in high school with a poor family life. Her parents didn’t treat her well and expected her to do things on her own. After she turned 18, she went and lived by herself. She would work 12-hour shifts after school every day to pay for herself. She felt overworked but that was the only way she could live. One day, she wasn’t feeling well. She would find it hard to breathe, and she had terrible headaches. So, she went into the emergency room after a rough shift, and the hospital immediately gave her a CAT scan. She waited in the hospital room for hours, then the doctor came into the room. The doctor told her that she had stage 3 brain cancer and needed to receive treatment right away. Susan didn’t know how she would be able to pay for it. Susan felt so alone, and she was so scared of what was going to happen to her. She had to go to appointments every day to receive treatments, and she didn’t have time to go to work or school anymore. She dropped out of high school and decided to do it online. She received her diploma and graduated high school the 2 months of her treatment. Her doctor once told her that it's better to go through this with friends and family. Susan decided to download Facebook and find new friends. Susan sent Jessica a friend request and Jessica added her back right away. Jessica and Susan connected right away and became best friends. Jessica found out that Susan had stage 4 brain cancer and Jessica started a GoFundMe. She didn’t know how much she would make but anything would help out Susan. The GoFundMe raised a lot of money that could pay all of Susan’s medical bills. Susan didn’t know about it until Jessica told her after all the money was raised. Susan cried because she never felt loved like that before. After many months of treatments, Susan was finally cancer-free. She decided that she was going to influence others on her journey and spread awareness about brain cancer. Susan became a public speaker and talked to many groups of people around the world. Jessica became her manager and helped her with this. Susan faced a hardship in her life and used it positively. She raised a lot of money for others with brain cancer and helped many who were in the same situation as her. Jessica made a positive impact on Susan’s life and helped her where she is today.

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Digital footprint could be bad or good but it usually comes back and impacts people. In a positive way or negative it could impact your future.

Once upon a time, there was a good-looking kid and amazing athlete named Angel Rodriguez but his nickname was Arod. Angel was a 5-star starting forward; he had officers from some clubs from Spain and some big D1 colleges; his name was up there. Everyone in school looked up to him and loved him. Angel was the superstar for the Warriors in Dallas Texas he and his family live in Dallas Texas with his dad, mom, sister, and brother Angel was loved and supported by everyone at his school and around his community. Angel also was kind, sweet, and the nicest person you could ever meet but as time went on Angel's little brother named Lucio was discovered with a sickness that at the time the medicine to cure was really expensive and Angel's family was not the wealthiest family around for money wise. So Cooper had to think hard so he thought to himself one night and just kept thinking of what he could do. So out of nowhere, Angel thought of this excellent idea so the next morning he came downstairs and told his parents he was going to put up a GoFoundMe page. So he did post it. The goal there was 600,500 but the thing about it is that this went viral all over the world because this story went all over the place. So everyone started to notice and liked the story and liked Angel because he was a stud on and off the field. Angel was so surprised when he saw how much money he had it was over 600,00 dollars they had 900,00 dollars so Lucio's day came surgery day and everything went well he fought through it and got better. Everything was good for Angel. His family was doing good and they had money from what they had. Angel had so many offers from all over the place but Angel's dream of playing at the FC Barcelona academy has not come true yet. One day after Angel was done with private practice he came home with good news his whole family was there they had a pizza party for him he was confused and his little brother Lucio gave him a note card and the front said Fc Barcelona Academy. He cried with joy and was so happy all the hard work paid off plus that he had a big money contract. So at the beginning of summer, Angel left for his dream place and had the best experience of his life

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Your footprint is very important and can have an impact on your future. Posting things that are offensive to people or other groups of people can be serious to your future. These things are something to consider when going into college or jobs. They are very effective especially when taking a job offer to another place. An example of this would be two people applying for the same job. Sarah and Julia are both applying for a job in the hospital as a RN. They both attended school for the maximum amount of years required and they also both did many internships. Julia was very intelligent and she was very passionate about what she had accomplished in life. Although Julia was very intelligent and passionate about her career, Sarah was someone who cared for others and took on this career because she was so very interested in helping others. She wanted to do the best for others and nurse them back to their healthy human self. When Dr. J was looking for who to hire these 2 girls both filled out an application. They were both very precise and they were both filled out with a lot of detail. They went overboard and put so many different references that they could talk to. When the Dr. was looking through their applications, he noticed that Julia had marked no to allow him to contact recent employers. So he scheduled an interview with her. He wanted to find the real reason for why she had marked it this way. It was marked no because she was still employed at another nursing facility and she didn’t know she was looking for something new. When she was finished with her interview another lady walked in right after her. Someone who she had known from town but also wasn’t the best person. Her interview didn’t last long before the Dr. called Julia back to talk about the potential job. He concluded that she has a very great application and that her social media platforms were very clean and kept up to a great standard. He continued to say that the other girl, Sarah, had a bad social media history. She had many pictures of herself with friends and alcohol in her hands. That being said she was hired for the job at the new hospital. She was very excited to start her new job and was so excited to tell all her friends about how she got the job. This is an example of a good and a bad social media history. See Julia was careful about what she posted and knew that she needed to be careful because she knew the effects it would potentially have could be good or bad. These effects were bad on the other girl because she posted bad pictures and videos. And it so happened that an employer who couldn’t decide which one to choose just instantly knew which one based on their social media platforms. This should show that your digital self can impact your future self and who you are. You may only do something like Sarah did one night but that can come back and have the biggest impact on your life.

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Ezra was always isolated. He never liked being with such big crowds because he always walked over. He would get pushed, bullied, and at times got hit. He would come home just writing in his journal about how he felt on those days. Ezra one day went to school which was his normal routine every day. As Ezra was walking to physics a senior pushed him into the wall and for the time Ezra had something switch in him. He got up and shoved that senior. He was confused about what had taken over him. That student was shocked that Ezra finally stood up for himself he left him alone after that. Everyone left him alone after that. Ezra wrote in his journal that day how it felt so good to finally define himself. That was enough for Ezra though. He wanted to be heard more. He didn't want to just keep it contained all the time of how he felt. He wanted to express to others that never got to that level of thinking it feels better to be all alone. Ezra got up and searched for his computer and went straight to voice memos. Ezra was thinking about how or if he wanted to do this. He was contradicting to see if anyone would even listen or if it was a “dumb idea.” Ezra did it anyway however he was so angry at himself for letting it get that far as he was just thinking about it. That anger then went further than just the journal. Ezra started recording himself and right away he started ranting about how alone he felt, and how he hated the people at school for doing that to him. He was blaming everyone and completely getting sidetracked by the real purpose of this podcast. Once he finished recording he uploaded it publicly without hesitation or reviewing the recording. He felt so relieved at that moment for finally expressing how he felt. Little did he know that that would soon catch up to him, faster than he thought. The next day at school, Ezra walked into school with all sorts of looks at him. He was confused about why they were looking at him in that sort of way until the principal called him in. He came into the office wondering what he did wrong. The principal immediately tells him that the recording he posted has gone viral. He didn't even know it went viral because he hadn't checked social media. She said because it went viral colleges were informed by it due to how viral it went. Ezra started to feel his heartbeat racing because he was a senior and had been accepted by a few colleges. The principal informed him that because of the recording, some colleges contacted her saying that there was no longer a need for a final transcript because they had denied it. Ezra’s heart sinks. He didn't realize that colleges would even look at his social media. Ezra left the office realizing what he did in the heat of the moment. He was so disappointed in himself. He wasn't even upset but just simply disappointed. After school, Ezra goes up to his room and thinks to himself about what would this tell others who feel alone. Would this make them think it's okay to blame others? Ezra this time opens voice memos and takes a deep breath. He opens the podcast with saying,” I’m sorry.” He goes on to say that this last episode of a rage of anger that he never should have let out publicly. He elaborated on how this is exactly how he felt when people picked on him and now he was doing it back as he blamed others. “Anger is never the answer,” Ezra says. He lets his listeners know that if you don't want to feel alone anymore, you have to find your voice but respectfully. He goes on, to on how his first episode was never the solution and that it fixed nothing except make things worse. He posts it and doesn't look back. 2 days go by and Ezra receives an email. Ezra gets an email from one of the top schools he was waiting to hear back from, Louisville University. Louisville sent him an email that his latest podcast showed guidance and responsibility for that action and was offering him a scholarship. Ezra didn't realize that he would even hear back from them and even less after the first episode. He reads the email and sits with the feeling of gratitude. He realized that even having a horrible start there is still light at the end of the tunnel. He knows that even if you mess up it all matters what you do after to fix it. Ezra accepted the offer from Lousiville and now is majoring in communications.

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Your footprint is important because it can affect people's view of you. Lots of people may look up to you so you have to be careful about what you post. it can affect you if you post something bad. Businesses don't want you working for them. For example, a 13-year-old committed a crime and posted it to social media thus he was later prosecuted.  There are lots of people watching you when you do something incredible. Maybe you would get into a good college with a full scholarship. It is always good to work hard and make your footprint the best you possibly can. The better your footprint the more opportunities you will have in your future if you have a goal to meet you want to keep going.  when you graduate you are going to feel complete because you worked hard to this point and all your efforts to feel complete.   Lots of people feel when they are typing on the internet they feel like they are not their true selves like a fake persona on the internet my cousin found this scam website and they were trying to get his information out of him to ruin his reputation and he learned a valuable lesson to be careful on who he talks on the internet. Social media taught me to be careful about what I post and what I do cause everything has consequences.

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Sandy Star was an amazing makeup artist. She could do makeup very well and always got compliments on it. As Sandy was approaching her senior year, she realized she had no idea what she wanted to do for a living. Her loved ones encouraged her to pursue a job she loves doing. They told her that in the end, it shouldn’t feel like she is working everyday because of the love she has for her potential career. Sandy didn’t know where to start. She thought she had so much time to make this big decision. Unfortunately she didn’t realize she had wasted so much time. Until one day, as she was doing her makeup she knew what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. As the idea brightened in her brain like a lightbulb, she ran down the stairs to share her news. She told her loved ones that she was going to become a professional makeup artist. Her parents were left puzzled. They didn’t think that makeup was a proper career for their daughter. However they were still supportive of her and hoped she strived to be her best. And that she did. The first thing she did was go on social media to create her very own makeup account on Instagram. On the account she would post her makeup looks, products she used, and tutorials. Over time her account expanded. Her account got so big her followers wanted her to create a TikTok account. After Sandy set up her TikTok account, it grew rapidly. Graduation rolled around the corner and she decided to go to beauty school. She was known for doing amazing makeup around her college from her social media accounts. Soon, word got out and productions wanted to hire her for their movies. Sandy had the opportunity to work with celebrities, doing their makeup for the next big film. After her work was shown on a big screen, other big names knew who Sandy Star was. She branched out and had great opportunities to work with other celebrities. She loved working with Rihanna, Blake Lively, Florence Pugh, and Zendaya. Throughout this entire time working, she had the ability to finish beauty school and graduate. Since Sandy was so busy, she didn’t have much time to be as active on social media as she used to be. Even though this was the case, her followers understood her busy schedule. One day she hopped on social media and uploaded a few videos. Big brands were reaching out to her because they wanted to work with her. She did collaborations with amazing brands. Sandy was climbing up the ladder very quickly. In the end, Sandy Star created her own makeup brand. She turned out to be a very successful woman with a very proud supportive system by her side. She looked back at her life from the moment she started playing with makeup. The time and effort she put into her practice all those years was worth every minute. Because of her social media accounts, Sandy Star became a very successful woman who followed through with her dreams.

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Your digital footprint can be a good thing or however, be a bad thing. The digital footprint you create for yourself online can impact your future.  A digital footprint is a huge thing that changes the course of your life in an instant. The things you post on social media stay with you forever. You might think that the post you posted in 6th grade will not affect you when you are out of high school and applying for colleges. Sorry to tell you it will. Even if you delete it, it will be saved. This is a story about how your digital footprint can have a great impact on your life in the future. This is a story about Kayla Gonzalez. Kayla Gonzalez is a successful woman in business. She owns a whole bunch of clothing lines and she makes 6 figures. She also helps a lot of charities and also hosts charity events. Her main focus in life is to give back. She is such a wonderful and successful person. Do you know why she is such a successful woman? Well, I’ll tell you. When Kayla was younger she barely used her social media. When she did use her social media she would use it for positivity. She posted inspiring quotes every single day, she would also post bible scriptures. It inspired a lot of people, she also had a high following account.  Kayla would also do GoFundMe’s on her social media accounts to help others in need, like charities. When Kayla started applying for colleges she had a lot of opportunities presented for her. Lots of colleges looked at her social media accounts to see if she was a right fit for their college. They thought Kayla was a very humbled, nice, and a very kind young lady. All of the colleges that Kayla applied to loved her instantly after looking at her social media, and that she was spreading positivity. Kayla was so happy that she got to go to the topic college she picked. It was the Columbia University! She was excited to start her business journey and move forward with her plans to help others. Today she owns a Law Firm, she also owns a clothing store. Her businesses help other people in need. She also has a lot of connections, through her social media and her going to college. So she is a kinda big deal in New York now. Kayla made such an impact throughout her lifetime. Kayla helped so many people. She was awarded by getting the Key to the City. I know pretty big deal. See how social media can affect your whole life, or take you down the wrong path. Luckily Kayla was affected for the good. But don't get it twisted remember everything that you post on social media has a way of helping you or not helping you in the future. Everything you post will stay there forever. So be careful out there everyone. Be a Kayla Gonzalez everyone!

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Your digital footprint can change your life in many good ways. Old posts and pictures of good things you have done will bring positive attention to you and help you later in life. Trey v.s was a great cook and he loved it. He was Pizza Ranch's top pizza chef the way he made the pizzas and cooked them dropped everyone's jaws. Trey had one problem, he was sick of working at Pizza Ranch he wanted to do bigger and better things and he knew he could. He wanted to work a real restaurant but no one was hiring. Trey took to social media he posted pictures and videos of him making great pizzas and people loved it. His pizzas were the best pizzas in the area and he was praised highly for his ability to make a pizza. His posts blew up and he became well known for his abilities everyone loved his food and he was praised by the whole community for how good he was at cooking. The Pizza Ranch was making more money than they knew what to do with and they gave Trey multiple pay raises. Trey started to become very discouraged and was ready to give up on his dream of being a chef somewhere bigger. He loved to cook but he was also sick of making pizzas no matter how good they were. The Manager of a top restaurant in the area came across Trey's Social media page and he loved what he was looking at. He saw Trey had hidden talents when it came to cooking. He contacted Trey the next day and told Trey he would love it if he would come in and make a dish for them as a test to become a chef. Trey decided to make a Beef Wellington, a very complicated and difficult dish. Trey started out slicing the cut of meat and seasoning it as it was soaking in the season he made his mushroom crust and pastry to surround the cut of meat. He then seared the meat to lock in the flavor and wrapped it in the crust and pasture. He placed it in the oven to bake and took it out plated it and prested his dish. Teh manager cut into the wellington and it was cooked to perfection and took a bite of it. The Managers jew dropped, it was the most amazing thing he had ever tasted in his life. He ate the rest of the dish in seconds and offered Trey a job. Trey was delighted he accepted the offer from the manager and was cooking for them the next day. He started out as a simple sous chef yet Trey still excelled in his position and people from all around started coming to the restaurant for his food they all loved it. Soon the manager realized it wasn't even the head chef who was cooking the food it was Trey. After only  1 month Tray was offered teh head chef position and he became the greatest cook to ever live. He looked back on his life and realized that the reason he got here was because of social media. His posts back then got him to where he is today, the greatest chef ever.

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Pictures, videos, and social media are experiences that we like to share thing about our friends and things that we do in our lives. There are many good reasons to share certain things with friends and people that are in our lives. But sometimes it's not the best idea to post everything that we do with our lives we need to keep some of it private. When posting things you have to be careful if you post yourself and your friends at a party and you guys are drinking and you're underage and the college or you trying to get a job and they see that they might not take you. They could also want to take you to court for breaking the law and having to pay a fine because you posted something on your social media where everyone can see what you post even if it is private. When I post something on social media I know that I am comfortable with what I am posting right now and the other person who is in it is also comfortable with me posting them also. There was this girl her name was Izzy she posted on social media but not very often. She posted things about the college she would like to go to. She is planning on commenting on their post and going to their events when she can so they notice her. If she posts something about the college saying how good of a place she thought it was and how she is a big fan and her dream is to go there one day. If she does this and comments on their post and posts things about them also they should see her and what she is doing and what good things she is saying about them and the things she posts about them I think they would realize and look into her. If she got looked into by the college and they contacted her she would know she showed a positive attitude and footprint for them to notice her.

Know lets talk about if she did the opposite of this and was trying to get into the college this way. Izzy posts everything she does when she is with her friends one night she is at a party and she is drinking and she is 17 and she posts a picture on social media and the college she wants to go to sees it and they look more into her background and find out that she is underage and is posting things like this with other people. The next day she goes to the college for a visit so she can learn more about it but when she gets there they tell her that they would not like to take her because of what she posted on her social media and know she regrets that she did that. The reason that this affected her footprint is that she posted something she shouldn’t have been doing anyway and now that she shared it people saw it if she hadn’t posted it she would have gotten away with it but the mistake she made was deciding that she should let people see what she is doing because she thought people would be cool.

The opportunity that was positively affected by the person's footprint is that she learned that you don’t need to post everything on social media for everyone to see and know what you are doing. You can post things on social media but it doesn’t need to be everything that you do in your day it can be some little things that you do or something that you want people to see that you are comfortable with posting. Posting everything you do is okay but posting something that you shouldn’t be doing is another thing because you can get in trouble for it and then you can lose college scholarships or job opportunities that you really wanted and the thing is it can affect a lot in your future that you did not realize that would affect you. When people do background checks they find things that are from a while ago and may not remember you may think that they won’t find those things but they do because when they do background checks I think it shows everything that you posted, shared, and have done because you don’t realize but everything you do on social media and online is saved and if you search for it you could find it some way. She learned that if you want a good footprint you have to want it and work for it and show the company or college that you are trying to work there or go to school there because certain colleges will look at your social media and see what you are doing to try and show that you care and will work hard.

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Many people post on social media, whether it’s about their lives, work, or other people. Everything that you post can come back up in the future, whether you like it or not, as the internet never forgets. What the internet will never forget about it my cousins college miracle all because of one post. My cousin has been constantly active on social media, putting up almost anything about his life from what he eats, to who he’s with, even to where he’s going for vacation. When he went to apply for college, many of the colleges looked not only at his academic record, but also his social media posts. Although he had less than perfect grades, his social media presence was out standing, and many colleges admitted to him that was the main reason they wanted him.

My cousin didn’t think much of his social presence, and didn’t think any colleges would accept him with how his grades looked. However, colleges started reaching out to him before he could even contact them, offering him scholarships he thought he would never see. He eventually decided what college he wanted to go to, and was shocked when they accepted him with a majority of the cost covered from their scholarships. He later talked to the college, and they said they wanted him because they looked through his entire social media, and instead of seeing pictures and videos of partying like they expected, they saw him helping people and studying. They even pointed out his diet, since he put what he eats out for everyone to see. At this point, my cousin had a few thousand followers, and the college could tell he would be a great presence at the campus.

Because of how genuine he was, my cousin got into a good college for way less cost than anyone was expecting him to. It’s vital that if you use social media, that you post things you’d want your parents, future colleges, and future bosses to see, as more and more people turn to the media to find out more about you. Although having no presence on social media isn’t the best, keep in mind that it is better than having a negative social media presence, so if you’re thinking about posting a risky picture or of you doing something you shouldn’t be doing, think twice before putting it on the internet forever.

Some people online put on a fake persona and don’t show the real them, which can both help and hurt them. It can help when colleges and employers go to the media to find more about you, since they’ll find all the good things about the online you. It can end negatively though once they meet the actual you, and realize you’re nothing what you said you were. This could end in colleges taking back applications or potential employers rejecting or firing you. It’s important to keep not only a positive social media presence, but a genuine social media presence.

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Having a digital footprint could be a good thing or a bad thing usually it comes back and impacts people either positively or negatively it could definitely impact your future as well.

Once upon a time, there was a very unique-looking kid named Cooper Den Hartog. Cooper is the star pitcher for the Black Bombers and is from Albuquerque New Mexico. He and his family live in the suburbs and in a nice brown house with his mom, dad, sister, and brother. Cooper was loved by man at his school not only was he the most popular kid at school he also the nicest and kindest. Cooper was also known worldwide for his baseball skills as well and he had many d1 offers. What seemed like a perfect life for Cooper came along a big obstacle unfortunately Cooper's brother Noah discovered he was very sick and had come up with extraordinary diseases that nobody had heard of before that required surgery immediately. There seems to be a problem the cost of the surgery for Cooper's brother Noah seemed to cost way too much for their family. They had no idea where they could get such a big amount of money to help with the surgery cost. That was until Cooper's brilliant mind came up with a great idea he brought upon his parents that he could start a GoFundMe page to raise money for his very sickened brother whom he loves so much Noah. At first, his parents were not sure whether it would work or not but Cooper believed that it could and it would work. So Cooper's brilliant mind went online and created a GoFundMe page for his brother He sent out the GoFundMe goal to be $800,699. Now that it was created he and his family spent time with Noah taking care of him and making sure he was okay until his surgery day came. With time going by and the day coming sooner, Cooper checked the GoFundMe page to see whether they had raised any money for his brother and when he did his jaw hit the floor Cooper was in shock. His GoFundMe page had raised more money than they had asked for he noticed that he had many supporters including family and friends and people he had never met before including some colleges who were interested in him for baseball. Cooper couldn't believe it he was so happy and excited. The day finally came and Noah had a successful surgery and was back at home with his loving family. They all felt very blessed and loved especially Cooper realizing he is loved by many and it's coming back to him for being so nice and kind to others. A couple of days passed and Cooper was showed more love at school everyone was so happy for him for being a great brother and human even more college coaches noticed and offered him more scholarships for his leadership skills. Eventually, Cooper ended up committing to play baseball for Clemson and his family and brother had a great life moving on.

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Digital footprint is something where everyone sees you. And sees what you post and what you think. It'll affect you in your future because everyone will view you on what you say on social media. Even though you delete the post you made it wont delete because everything stay on thereIts an imagine on you

In 2019 I started a group of trucks called Nasty Iowa Vehicles. First I just started it because I was bored and it was during COVID year. I got a few guys I knew before and got him into the group my goals was to have decals and shirts but it was just an idea. Than people started to repost the group more and more people started to see it and more people wanted to join. Through the end of the year we had a couple hundreds of trucks posted on Instagram. When people would get their trucks posted they would post it on their stories. That really helped us getting the group out there. A couple of months into 2020 we had like 500 followers it was going pretty good. The messages were going through like crazy we would have new messages every hour people wanted to join the group.  I started to meet new people too and see their builds. Then my followers started to say that we should have truck meets but that as well was just an idea. In 2021 I met a buddy and I made him vice president because it was getting pretty big. In 2021 we started to have truck meets and they were packed. We had people come from South Dakota and Sibley. We had some crazy time during the truck meets. Some unforgettable memories were made those nights.  And the guys I met through social media I met them in person and that was a pretty awesome feeling. We also started a TikTok account where we posted clips of the truck meets and through there a lot of people found the account and started to follow.  Then I came across a guy that did decals and I was pretty happy because that was an idea I had for a very long time and I started to talk to him. Then we came up with a design and he started to make them. I got them a week later and I was selling them to the members. They started to post them and when people started seeing them people wanted them. He had an online store and we got the decals on the online store so people can buy them. Then a few months later a guy came across and he did t-shirts and he was local so that was a good. He made me a shirt design then we changed up the shirt design and both of them went to people that wanted them. The thing that I think it was pretty cool is that I got pretty close to some people. And we started to build a friendship. There was a time when I was in Sioux Center cruising and a couple of guys in a truck yelled out the groups name. It was crazy to me because I didn't recognize them. That made me happy because I realized that even though the group is old people still support it.

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A digital footprint is something about how people see you online and it can affect you either positively or negatively. There are many situations where you can get a job by positively using your digital footprint. If you post something bad and delete it it will be online forever they will be able to track it back to you in the future. This can affect you in many ways because if you are in your dream college or are accepted into your dream college and you are not watching what you post you can easily be kicked out or not accepted. Just think about how your digital footprint will affect your future.

One day Jocelyn was getting ready to graduate high school and she never really posted online but when she did post online it was always positive. She is a bright student all throughout high school and she was willing to help anyone out in her school when they asked. After high school, she just wanted to be a content creator she wanted to inspire people. She always watched videos on YouTube and any social media of her favorite social media creators. The people she watched always left her feeling good and happy she also realized that they were just like everyone else. They posted things that were real they were being truthful in their videos and raw something a lot of people can’t do. She college but she felt like she wasn’t doing something even though she getting more education in her life she still felt like something was off. She continued with her life but one day she decided she going to post something on YouTube. It was just a vlog about her day but to her, it was a big step into her career as a content creator. She bought something off Instagram which was a shirt that said Jesus Loves You. She posted it on her Instagram and tagged the company and that’s when she got more noticed by people. She had her YouTube link in her bio on her Instagram and people started watching the video that she posted. Many people commented on the video saying that she should post more on Youtube, Instagram, and TikTok. So that is what she did she started doing exactly that she also started posting on the brand of Jesus Loves You. People loved what she put out there, especially about Jesus and how wonderful he is. People love that she is a genuine person and won’t do it only because there is a camera being pointed at her. People saw that she genuinely tried to help people in her life even though she didn’t know them. This opened up a really big opportunity in her life with the company Jesus Loves You because they wanted her to be a part of the team and they gave her sponsorships. They invited her to go meet the team and tour the facility they wanted to hear her ideas for some designs. They gave her an opportunity to collaborate with them and she was shocked and she was very grateful. When the collaboration came out it was sold out in seconds and she felt overwhelmed because she never thought that could be possible. She continued to post everywhere and everyone loved it because she was just so real and genuine when she posted. This shows that your digital footprint can affect you in a positive way in your life.

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I always try to keep my online life and my “real” life disconnected so that if I do something bad, It won’t be able to be traced back to me. I’ve been doing a good job to preserve my online digital footprint. Some people have greatly benefited from there digital footprint for many things in there life. One of the examples I can think of is when a man named John applied for a job as an auto mechanic. John was only a few years out of a small community college and he was appling to a big mechanics shop with no big references other than college. This means that he didn’t have a great chance of getting a job compared to the other people appling at the job, who had all gone to big private schools. There schools had access to big and better technology compared to his college, they made fun of him for this, saying he had no chance to get this job and how he was undesirable for this job. All of this added up was making it virtually impossible to get this position. That is, if he didn’t have a digital footprint, unlike everyone else applying to this job, he had quite ther positive digital footprint. In his free time, he would post videos to his social media, like youtube and instagram, of him working on his cars and giving tutorials on how to do things to your car. The company saw these videos and saw how great his work was and how he was as person, his morals, his comedy, they saw how professional he acted not only with his work, but also with people. With his digital footprint, the company saw how great of a fit and how much of a help he would be for the job compared to the other people who applied, because not only did he have the skills for the job, he had the character for it too. When he went into the interview, he had nothing but worry on his mind about his poor portfolio with little training. However, he was pleasantly surprised when they said he would be a great fit for the shop because they had seen his videos and saw how good of a mechanic he was. He later helped many new hires get comfortable around the shop and helped teach them about some of the basics in regards to car maintenance and upkeep. He quickly rose through the ranks with his talents and became the head mechanic. Even small things on the internet, a video, a picture, or a message can have a great impact on what happens in life. Because of John’s digital footprint, he had a greater chance of getting the job, will this happen always? No, a digital footprint is a double edged sword, sure it can help you in areas, but it can also hurt you. So think about the next time you post online of you doing something illegal or that heavily looked down upon.

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Your digital footprint and the image you create of yourself online has a huge impact on your future. It can affect your ability to get a job or get into a college. Anything you post is on the internet forever, even if you delete it, and can easily be traced back to you. You should always think before you post or comment something. Think about how it portrays you and your character.

There once was a girl named Britney. Britney was finishing her senior year of high school, and applying to her dream college. She had written her essays and taken her ACT, and thought of what else she could do to impress her dream school. She knew they would look at her social media to get a better idea about who she was. Her parents had always taught her about digital footprints and how they can affect you, so she was always very careful and thoughtful about what she posted. She figured she could post things on her social media to show she was involved with her friends, family, and community.

She started doing community service, helping at different organizations, and posting about them on her social media. She posted about how the organization helps to better the community, including links to donate and volunteer. She posted about events and charities the organization held throughout the year and posted links to sign up to volunteer and register to attend. She hosted food and clothing drives for her community. She started GoFundMe’s for different charities in the community and shared links to donate.

She wanted to show that she was social and involved in many extracurricular activities at her high school. She posted pictures of her performances in speech and choir and pictures with her friends. She posted pictures with her family doing different activities. She and her friends participated in parades for her community, walking with different charities they had volunteered with. They reposted pictures of them in the parade that the charity’s profiles posted, and made sure to encourage people to volunteer and donate.

Britney eagerly waited to hear back on her college application. She hoped that she had done enough to create a good impression of herself on her application and online. One day, Britney was checking her mail after coming home from school, and saw one of the envelopes was from the college she applied to! She quickly went inside to open the envelope in her room. She had been accepted into her dream school! The letter said that they were very impressed by her work with her community and her advocacy online for different local charities. Britney was thrilled! Her hard work had made a positive impact on her community, and had paid off in her applications to college. She had been thoughtful about what she put online, and was sure to post things that would have a positive impact on her community and the impression she would make to colleges that viewed her profiles.

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Noah grew up playing baseball his whole life. He found a passion in the sport and loved every aspect of it from practice to games. He played through high school and he planned to continue playing in college. He decided to attend Vanderbilt University where he played baseball and majored in sports medicine. He was done with school and he wanted to find a job that would make him as happy as possible while also making money. He decided to get a job as an athletic trainer but also helped teach people the right way to play the sport of baseball. He decided to get his own business started with some other people who also had the same passion as him.

When he started this he wasn’t very popular and had few clients. Noah decided to stick this out and he kept working toward his goal of helping lots of different people. He decided that he would have to help himself get more clients. He decided to make some ads and social media pages to help him improve his work and his business. He finally started to get more clients in both his athletic training but also his teaching part. Most of the people he was teaching were teenagers who wanted to be the best players they could be. He worked with these same kids for a while but he wanted to expand himself.

Noah knew that he was good at his job and he knew that he wanted to help as many people as possible. He decided that he was going to start posting some work that he does on Twitter and Instagram. He started by just posting the little workouts that he did with some of these kids. He wanted to show their progression and how he was making them better. He wasn’t only doing this for himself but was also trying to help these kids get recognition for the work they put in.

He continued to do this even though he had not made much of a following yet but he knew that it would work out for him. He was still making money through these sessions he was working with. With this money, he decided to buy some new technology that would make his work even better. He bought stuff that would be able to track everything that these kids were doing when they were playing baseball. When he did start using this he was able to post this new data on these social media platforms which helped him get noticed by more people. His following grew a substantial amount after this happened and he started to get more recognition for his work. He started to get hired to work with more well-known people who were great players. He grew from just working with children to working with professional athletes. He kept posting this stuff and he just kept gaining popularity through his work. He started small but used these social media platforms to help him and his business grow stronger.

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Your digital footprint is a very important thing in your life and can change your life very quickly, god or bad.

Once upon a time, there was this little boy named Lary. Lary always loved fishing, his dad taught him how to fish when he was 4 years old, and ever since then he loved it and was his favorite thing to do. His dream was to be a fishing guide so he could do what he loved for work everyday. He never thought that he would become a fishing guide ever in his life because he thought if he made his own fishing guide business it would fail and he would go broke. One day Lary’s father passed away, Lary was very close to his father and loved him very much. His father loved fishing just as much as Lary did, Lary’s father also had a dream of being a fishing guide because he loved it so much, but they never had enough money to buy a boat or enough equipment to start the business. Lary was devastated that his father was gone. Lary decided to pursue him and his fathers dream of becoming a fishing guide. So he worked his but off to gather enough money to buy a boat and enough fishing supplies and electronics to start the business. Lary ended up buying a very nice boat and fishing poles and went on to start the business. The first day he released the business in the papers he had 2 phone calls throughout the day. He was very excited to start up and take the first people on a guide and catch them some fish. He had been fishing his whole life so he knew exactly where the good spots were. The people bought 5 hours worth of fishing for the day. They ended up catching 28 fish, and one really big one that was 32” long. They were very excited. As the years went on Lary’s business got bigger and bigger. He was amazed on how big the busines has grown and how much money he had made. Everyday he remembered his father who inspired him to do what he does today, and thanks him everyday as he is watching over him and watching his business grow.

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Once upon a time, there was a young teenager named Heather Van Wyhe. As a little girl, she always wanted to be involved in fashion and loved to dress up. In her late high school, and college days she started a TikTok page of her outfits of the day. Each day she posted what she wore and where she got it from and what inspired her to wear it. She gained many followers as time went on, she was even granted the opportunity to be sponsored by one of her favorite clothing brands.

Eventually, her mom had a baby and Heather became a big sister. This was not how it seemed though, her baby sister was born with a heart defect. She was stunned but knew she needed to do something to help her. Since she was a growing TikTok star she thought that many people could help her. She and her family started a GoFundMe page to help pay for the surgery her sister needs to survive. She posted this link on her page and many of her followers saw this and helped support her family and eventually, they made enough to pay for the surgery.

One time while she was in public she was approached by many people when they saw her clothes and outfit. They were in awe and wanted to know where she got them from. This inspired her to add a link in her bio on her TikTok page to her clothes and even had them set in outfits that she wore. She added each new outfit she wore onto the website and made millions from this, just because she was impacting people in a positive way.

By doing this she was making a positive impact on her digital footprint without even knowing it. This is because with all of the attention she was gaining she was being a positive influence to the younger generation and didn’t use her platform to bring anyone down or hurt other people, but instead helped others find what they love and show others how they can impact their future generations. As she moved through college she continued to pursue her career in the fashion industry. Eventually, she decided to design some of her own clothes and inspired even more people to be creative and make what their heart desires.

Eventually, after graduating college she is about to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming a fashion artist. When she applies she shows up in her own designer clothes which attracts many eyes within the company. When she talks with the interviewer they state that they have seen her TikToks and think that she is a great fit for the job because of the ideas she has, but also because she is a positive person that can bring a whole new wave of people to the business. Eventually, she even gets all of her coworkers to wear her design This is an example of how one's digital footprint can affect someone in a positive way.

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Having a digital footprint is a very big deal because everyone always will have a positive or negative digital footprint. This can highly effect your future and how people see you. This is a fictional story about a high school boy named Jalen. Jalen is the star football player for his football team and actually won the state championship his junior year and now everyone expects him to repeat going into his senior year. Jalen has always had a big heart for his little brother Timmy who has cystic fibrosis. This is a condition in your lungs that makes it very hard to breath and hard to function. Timmy has a pretty severe version of this disease but one thing has always stayed the same for Timmy. He has always looked up to his older brother Jalen and has always wanted to be like him. Timmy has always loved watching football and watching his brother play was always his favorite thing. Jalen felt like he always needed to do something that could help Timmy fulfill his dream. He wanted Timmy to play football one day.

Jalen was in school one day and he was very bored so he was looking up things about cystic fibrosis and saw that there was very expensive medicine that would actually help to heal this disease and make people with CF function like a normal kid. Most people with CF didn’t do this because it was way to much money and no one could ever afford it. Jalen had had it on his heart so long that he really wanted to do something his whole life for his little brother because Timmy really looked up to him so much. Jalen is the starting quarterback for his team and also the senior captain. A few days before his first game, he talked to his coaches and teammates about something that had been on his heart. He asked them if it would be okay if Timmy walked out to the middle of the field with the captains on Friday night. Jalen just wanted to make his brother fell like a football player because Timmy had only ever wanted to play football with his brother.

That Friday night, Timmy walked out to the middle of the field with Jalen and the rest of the captains. They let Timmy call the coin toss so he called heads and they won. They went back to the sideline where they let Timmy watch the rest of the game on the sideline. It was the first game of the season and everyone wanted to come see Jalen play, so the whole town had basically shown up that night. After Jalen threw the game winning touchdown in overtime that night, he got congratulated for the game but everyone wanted to know something else. Everyone said they were so inspired by his little brother and they would do anything to help out Timmy. Jalen went home that night and thought of the idea that would save his brother. He decided he would set up a go fund me page to try and raise the 500k for medicine to heal his little brothers disease. He posted it on all his social media platforms and hoped it could raise some money. He slept in that next day, and he woke up to see that 400k had already been raised!!! Another day went by and they had already raised enough for the medicine. He told his brother the news right away and their whole family went to the high school right away to get him on these meds thst would heal him. Timmy was also told he could play football now.

Timmy never took that for granted. He came to practice and balled out. He quickly became the starting receiver on varsity as a freshman. They had a special season and went on to win the state championship together!! After the season was over, many people were impressed by the heart of Jalen and how he wanted to help his brother. He was offered a job to help give therapy to kids with CF and other disabilities like this. He decided he would love to do that when his playing days were over. Jalen’s digital footprint made a longlasting positive impact on him.

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Your digital footprint is very important on your life and can change the course of your life with only one mistake. Your digital footprint should always be good and show positve things that can help you with getting accepted into college and or getting a job. Even more than just your digital footprint you should be cautions about what you post. You should also be cautious about your self promotion which has to deal with how people around you think about you. I have been a online friends with lots of people, to this date I have been online friends with about 25 people. One of the people that has really stuck out to me is someone named Katie Johns, and she lives up in New Jersey and we have been online friends for over 8 years. Katie Johns is a very famous accountant and she has had a great path to get to this point in her life. Katie Johns was a very smart kid in high school she attended math bees to even going to Lydon B. Johnson Space Center in Texas! On her way in high school she posted lots of pictures about these things and they got lots of attention on social media. She soon later got sponsors to attend things for them because she was starting to get very popular all over the internet. One story she told me about was someone was offering to fly her to England and speak in front of a group of people about how she has been brought to this point in her life. Sadly though, she denied that she was to invested in her studies because she wanted to get into the University of Southern California and become the best accountant in New Jersey. When she sent her application to University of Southern California it took them 5 months to get back to her to see if she had got in to the school or not. Once they had finally got back to her it was a very long letter. They had added in, “We at University of Southern California are very impressed with your digital footprint and how you never posted anything bad, and you only post things that are meaningful to you online. Also, How diverse you were all throughout highschool and participated in lots of things.” Finally towards the end of the letter it told her that she got in and was accepted to go to University of Southern California the following year. Once she had got their she started making sure her digital footprint was good and kept that same pace all 4 years of college. She was a straight A student and passed accounting school 4 years later and was so excited. Once she started applying for jobs they started coming in like crazy and she got loads of job offers from many companies wanting her to come work for them. Fast forward 7 years later she has been working her butt off and it one of the best accountants in America. Katie Johns is a very caring person and her digital footprint has showed that you can do anything that you put your mind to.

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Social media can have a big impact on your life. You may not think so now, but as time goes on important people can look at your media accounts and it could determine their decisions. Social media can also help promote small businesses.

A family friend of mine, who lives in Rock Valley, runs her own business right from her house. She does manicures, pedicures, and makeup for special occasions. At first, when she started the business she only got friends and maybe friends of friends who promoted her business to other people. Her business was prolonged for the first year. As social media got bigger over the years, she had the brilliant idea to make an account promoting her business. She made all different accounts on different apps so the word could get around faster. She got a lot more clients after she made that significant decision. She even got clients from out of town to come and try out her business. Everyone was so satisfied with her service and friendliness to them. She got so many more clients that she had to build a different room to have the best quality room for everyone. Her family was and still is so supportive and flexible with her work hours and are very friendly to all of her new clients and the ones who come back on a monthly basis. Since she is the only one who works from her house, she can only do one person at a time. I think her business is just right of busyness for her. She isn’t overwhelmed with work because she spaces out her appointments just right.

Personally, I hired her to do my makeup for prom last year. There was never a dull moment with her, and I loved her services. It was a get-in and-get-out kind of service which I like because on prom day you always have so many things to do before actually going to prom. She made great small talk and my makeup was great, she knew exactly what I wanted from a Pinterest picture and put it to life. It was a magical moment for me and for her.

To this day, she is a solo business owner and loves all of the customers she gets. She never has a slack day to just relax, she is always go, go, go. I can really tell she loves her job and wouldn't want to do anything else. I personally think it is wild how she has time for her kids and for her clients in a day.

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One day a high school student named mitchell was helping his dad out farming in the field. It was harvest season and he was whipping the combine with no remorse. While he was the combine driving he was extremely bored and it was late so he was tired. He then remembered this project he had for school. He had a vlogging pathway he needed to complete, so he pulled out his phone and hit record. He recorded what he was doing which to him was boring and not very interesting because he had been around it all his life. His teacher required for this project that he needed to post the vlog on you tube which he wasn’t a fan of doing. When he got home he posted the video and went to bed.

When he woke up he checked his phone and there was hundreds of notifications from youtube. He was confused at first but when he clicked on one he realized that his video had a bunch of views and likes. There was also a lot of comments talking about how interesting the video was because they had never seen anything like it. Mitchell was confused what was such a simple and boring task was very interesting to people who had not been around it ever. He now had a different veiw on posting on social media and he decided he would start posting more farming content on youtube. Each day after school he would record himself doing chores, driving tractor, and all sorts of other tasks on the farm. He would post all of these video on youtube.

After one month of posting 2 vlogs a week he had 1,000 followers. He decided he would continue to do this farming content. He did keep posting on youtube about farming but he kind of hit a plateau and wasn’t growing his name as much as it had been. He needed to post more content with a different variety of things. He started positng about his truck and all the modifications he has added to it. He even made a whole video taling about how his truck was a Nasty Iowa Vehicle and how proud he was of it. He started to grow rapidly again getting to 10,000 followers.

After a year of vlogging about his farming and his truck he was starting to make money off of his name he had made for himself. He decided to make merchandise he made shirts, sweatshirts, hats, stickers, cups, and more. They all started selling extremely well selling out in days. Which means Mitchell had his own clothing line he was starting to get famous. After two years he had racked up 200,000 subscribers and counting and his merchandise was still growing thats when he decided to buy a farm of his own. So he now had three businesses his youtube channel, his merchandise line, and he owned a farm. Mitchell’s content got even better colabing with other famous youtubers like whistling diesel and the C boys.

After 3 long and fun years mitchell had finally hit 1 million subscribers with a loyal fan base. He was famous and beloved and he was starting to host events like truck meets. All of which started from an assignment from school posting a vlog. Mitchell wound’t be where he is today without his digital footprint. He had fame, money, his dad finally loved him, and most of all he was happy and doing what he loves which was farm and now he alos loved to vlog.

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This is a fictional story

Everything we post online can be saved there forever, even if you forget about it, delete it, or think no one will find it. Sometimes that can be a bad thing, but sometimes it can be a good thing. A few years back, I made an account on Instagram where I posted positive messages every day. Some of them would be shorter, and some of them would have more length, it just depended on the day. I did get a lot of positive feedback and usually, the same people would go and like all of my posts every single day. I think this went on for about eight months before I slowly forgot about it. My posting got less consistent until I eventually left the account behind. I would have liked to continue it, but my schedule got busier and I would forget to write the messages in the morning. Like I said earlier, that was a while back, around two years ago. A couple of weeks ago, I started applying for jobs. I specifically was going to apply to be a school guidance counselor. There were two schools I was looking at to apply to. One of the schools was fairly close to me. It was only a 10-minute drive. The other school would be a little over an hour away. I considered the one that was farther away, but there were many more pros to working at the school closer to me. I put my application in and waited. I got a response and a call to set a date for the interview. Everything went very well at the interview. I was feeling very confident about how it went. There was another person also competing for this position and that was the only bit that made me nervous. I had heard that this other woman would also be a great fit for the school. Now I just had to wait to see who would get hired. What I learned after I got hired, was that they did not know who to choose for the school’s counselor. Both of our interviews had gone well and showed we were both great matches for the job. That is when they decided to do some more background checks. I was certain I did not have anything posted that would reflect negatively on me. The person I was competing for the job, however, did have some disrespectful and offensive tweets on one of her older accounts from when she was in high school. That automatically struck a negative view of her. The school also found my old account where I had posted daily messages that were to encourage people or lift them up. This was something that they really liked because they saw more of the person I was. They saw me as someone who wants to be helpful to others and leave a positive impact on them. I had completely forgotten about this account, but I’m glad they were able to find it and see it as a good and positive thing. I ended up getting the job and I couldn’t be happier. I learned from my competitor how important digital footprints are seeing how hers negatively affected her place to getting the job. This experience taught me a lot about the importance of what we choose to share online, and how it can be negative or positive towards our future.

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Your digital footprint can both be negative and positive depending on how you use social media. Your digital footprint can be used in many ways by many people. Almost everything you do online can be traced back to you, and that can sometimes be scary. Most stories that talk about digital footprint are negative, but this one is positive. This story is about a boy named Dawson. When it came to school, Dawson struggled. He wasn’t a very good student, and he wasn’t great at following rules. As a high school student (senior), he was a troublemaker. He was loud, obnoxious, and wouldn’t stop talking. Some people would make jokes, saying that he should join public speaking so it gave him an excuse to talk. He actually didn’t hate the idea, so he decided to give it a try. A month or so went by, and he was actually a great public speaker. He was used to talking in front of people so it came really easy to him. One day a famous podcaster came across one of Dawson’s talks on the internet. He found Dawson very interesting and wanted him to be on one of his podcasts. He reached out to Dawson hoping he would agree to be on one of his podcasts. Dawson of course, said yes. They compared schedules and found a day that would work for the both of them. A day after the podcast aired, it got only 2 hundred views. Dawson thought nothing of it, and soon enough forgot about it. Around a month later the podcast episode gained some traction, eventually hitting 20 thousand views. Dawson was a hit, he was basically famous at this point. Some clips of him in the podcast were reposted onto social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram getting millions of views. Dawson eventually made his own podcast where he’d just rant about things he thought were interesting. His podcast was a little hard to start up at first, but he eventually made it work. He would advertise his podcasts on his social media accounts. At this point, his main source of income was from these podcasts, and he was only a high school student. He decided to step it up a notch. Dawson wanted to create a brand to “sponsor” his podcasts. Eventually, the school year ended. He started up his brand selling shirts, socks, shorts, etc with his podcast logo on them. It wasn’t doing very well, and he wanted to know all the parts that went into starting up a brand. So he decided to take an online business course to aid him in the making of this brand. This business course along with his brand took up most of his time. His podcast started losing viewers. Around 4 months later his online course finally ended. With the help of the course, he found out why his brand wasn’t doing very well. He fixed the problems within the brand and it soon started to take off. With his online course being finished, and his problems fixed within the brand, he had more time for his podcasts. Now that he had a brand to sponsor his podcasts, he gained more viewers than ever before and lived happily ever after. THE END.

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November 2, 2018, Dan was bored at home after a long day of school. He played way too many video games and was flushed empty with ideas. He thought a second about school. Nope, no homework he would remember. He sat there for what felt like ages. Then an idea struck his head. Recently, in his social studies class, his teacher was going over how large corporations work and how they coordinate with businesses all over the world. As a future economics major, Dan found this interesting and paid close attention. During this time, Dan pondered if that was truly the most effective way to run such businesses. Dan then comprehended the most effective way, in his opinion, to productively conduct a business. He opened docs and started a new project. After setting a quick title, his fingers raced across the keyboard. The ideas kept flowing into his head and the words just kept flowing out.. After a short hour, his masterpiece was finished. In front of him, in all its glory, was a 10 paged informative essay about how large corporations could consolidate and improve their gross income. Dan was surprised about what he accomplished. He normally struggled with such tasks. For instance, last fall he had to write a 1 pager on the collapse of the turkish tribes of the middle ages. Unlike his 10 pager that took him 1 hour, it took him 3 days of constant reminders from his teacher and his parents. Dan was PUMPED that it only took him that long. He then thought of a good way of sharing his ideas with the public. He went onto a blogging website and made an account. He used his real name and his senior photo for his profile picture. Dan posted the essay and gave himself a pat on the back. He then proceeded to celebrate by indulging in some Reese's peanut butter cups.

It's been 1 year since Dan's article has been published on his blogging website. For all the effort and pride he felt in it, Dan never looked back on his essay and how people responded. His senior year was coming to an end, and he hadn't decided where he was going to attend university. He visited a few and talked to their professors, but few sparked his interests. Dan and his parents were getting desperate. After a hard day of researching colleges with little success, he sat down at his desk and laid his head down. He was feeling pretty down and felt like he was nobody. But then he remembered his legendary 10 page essay and how proud he was of it. He found his blog back and was astonished by what he saw. There were hundreds of comments praising his work and the ideas he poured into the article. This gave Dan immense joy. But then he saw a little red dot in the corner of the tab. As he inspected closer he saw that it was a notification, a private message. As he opened it, he saw the name Prof. Charles Danbley. Dan shrugged it off as a bot but kept reading. As he read through, it became clear that this was no joke. He was very impressed with the essay and would love to see him visit their university and meet him. Dan rushed upstairs and hugged both of his parents and told them the great news.

Two weeks later Dan had a great visit and received the highest grant available that made going to college ameer question of who he wanted to bunk with. The professor was very impressed with his essay and wanted to help Dan channel his talents. Therefore, having a good view of oneself on the internet is a great asset to your future self.

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The way you present yourself matters, this is something we’ve all known. We have to dress according to what we do and how we want to be perceived. Being online gives you more opportunities to be seen and acknowledged for what you do and who you are. Rachel got to learn this lesson on her own. Rachel spent her whole life looking up to the fashion industry. She followed all the trends, watched New York Fashion Week, and every bought the right boots every fall. At the time she was working at a local cafe. She tried to stand out when she was waitressing to hopefully get acknowledged and get the opportunity of her life. She dreamed of the day she would finally get to be in a “Vogue” cover like Kylie Jenner.

For about a year and a half she has been posting weekly videos of outfits and current favorite products. She had reached her peak of 460 followers but she felt stuck and out of luck. She felt like her numbers were the same for the longest. The day she posted a video about a blow dryer, everything changed. The world wanted her hair. She reached over 2 million views and many shares, making it her most watched video and she gained many followers who later supported all her videos and creations.

Rachel got reached out by several hair companies including the CEOs of her viral blow dryer. She got to work with several companies that she never thought she’d work with and made a good amount of money. Since she was in school she wondered if there was anything she was missing out on. She was in college majoring in film, she had hoped that this would train her to get good angles and shots for her videos as that’s what she was persueing so far. She had soon become the talk of the class. Her professor was very proud of her as he knew about her career plans.

One day she got a letter in the mail from the CEOs of Times Magazine. She was asked for a short interview about her work. This opportunity wasn’t the one she was hoping for but it was still exciting. She was nervous about it since she had to go to travel for this interview. They had asked for a quick photoshoot as well. She had no idea that would be part of it until some emails were sent. Weeks later, she finally got the magazine in her hands. Rachel was in the front cover described as the months newest viral influencer.

In the near future she got to have her dream job working with the designers of a high end brand, the fall line was her specialty. She continued school as a fashion major and soon moved to New York where she got to actually be in New York Fashion Week herself. It was her most exciting year yet. She still couldn’t believe it all happened thanks to a blow dryer.

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This is a fictional story.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? My name is Chris and I always wanted to be a fireman when I grew up. Ever since I was a kid I remember my parents taking pictures of me in my fireman costume. I would pretend I was putting out fires or driving in the firetruck while my parents took videos and photos and posted them online. As I grew up and entered middle school and high school, my life became busy with other things like homework and social life, but the passion remained. Whenever there was a career project I did it on firefighters and I how wanted to be one. When I got my first phone in my sophomore year, I decided to join social media. I joined Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. I followed many people and influencers I liked but also my local fire department and firefighters who were there to help the community. For career day in my junior year of high school, I decided to do a massive project on firefighters. I had to write a story and post it on multiple social media accounts about firemen and how they affect the community in a positive way. For the story, I even ended up in the local newspaper and had multiple articles written about it online from local news websites. I also had to join a local fire department for the day and record pictures and videos of my time there. Once the day was day, I decided to post the pictures and videos on my social media accounts. After a week, the posts had around 50 likes each, and I thought nothing of it. Entering my senior year of high school, I was looking at colleges and degrees or maybe entering a job right after high school. A teacher, who I would describe as my hero, and who was also a volunteer fireman told me about joining the city fire department. I asked him what I needed to do and he told me that I did not need to go to college but I needed to take multiple tests. I told him I would think about it and after graduation, I made my final decision. Although I wasn’t the smartest or strongest in my class I would try joining my city's fire department. I had already completed all the tests I needed to complete and the only thing left was the interview for the job. I went to the station where the Fire Chief recognized me from the newspaper and articles written about me joining the fire department for a day in high school. During the interview, I told him about my passion for this career and how I wanted to be in this career field since I was a child. Then I told him about my high school career and experience with the job during the visit. He then told me about how he did some research before the interview started. He said he had looked up my name and family member’s names online beforehand. He said he saw the pictures and videos of me as I child and realized that I was serious about wanting this as a job since I was little. Then he talked about how he saw all my school projects like my career presentations I had uploaded online, and the day I visited the fire department. After that, he explained that he saw my social media posts about visiting the firehouse and how I seemed to enjoy that day very much. I was sitting there very nervously while he was explaining this because I did not know if it was good or bad that he saw these things. However, all my lifelong dreams came true at the end of the interview when he said, “You have the job, welcome to the New York City Fire Department.”

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Your digital footprint can be a make-or-break part of your life in today's society. Colleges can look at your footprint and can make assumptions about you if you would be a good student. Businesses can look to see if you would be a hard worker. Everything you write or post on social media is stuck there forever and can affect your future life choices. There was a young man that lived in a local town in Sioux County. He attended high school and was a very young and brilliant student. His name was Ralphie. Ralphie always put his best foot forward and cared about what people thought about him. When Ralphie was a senior in high school a horrible thing happened to a close family friend of his. His friend was in a terrible car accident. His friend’s name was Peter. Peter was much older than Ralphie, but they were still close. Peter had lost his parents in a plane crash years ago, so he was all on his own. His car crash was a huge setback for him and he could not afford any of the hospital bills or a new car. Ralphie heard about this and decided to try to help Peter out. Peter had no idea any of this was going to happen to him. Ralphie went onto his social media platforms and told his followers about what had happened to his friend Peter. Ralphie had started a Go Fund Me page to go towards all of Peter’s bills. His followers were seeing this and they started donating money to Ralphie’s cause. Ralphie was hoping to surprise Peter with a big check that would cover all of his expenses from the accident. But, for Ralphie, things were not going as planned, he was not raising as much money as he thought he would have. This was a problem for him. One day, the Go Fund Me page Ralphie had set up for Peter was on the news. This was exactly what Ralphie needed. He had hoped to raise more money this way because his followers only went out so much. The news showed the link to the page and everyone across the area had seen it on the nightly news. Ralphie was so excited that he would finally get enough money to cover the costs of Peter’s accident. Ralphie’s phone was blowing up with notifications of donations being sent to the page. Ralphie had officially earned enough money to give to Peter, to cover all of the expenses he had from his car crash. While this was all going on Ralphie was trying to get into a University. Ralphie was struggling to get accepted into the university. But, thanks to the kindness of his heart, the admissions people at the university saw what he had done for Peter, and finally accepted him into the school. This shows that your digital footprint and what you do online can make a big difference in your life, even if it is positive or negative.

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Many people will come to realize that their digital footprint will affect their future positively or negatively. Today, I am going to explain how it affected someone positively when they applied for a job. My friend, who is now 20, decided not to go to college and is looking for a job. My friend never realized that his digital footprint would come to affect his reputation for the job he applied for. Growing up, many people use and post on social media sites to gain popularity. My friend growing up posted lots of images of himself helping his grandpa on the farm. My friend enjoyed being out on the farm with his grandpa doing farm work. The school was not my buddy's strong point, but he was able to get his diploma. Now that high school is done, my buddy is looking at either going to college or going straight to work. My friend applied at three local colleges for a career in the medical field but was denied by all three because his GPA was not above their requirements. My friend decided he was not going to continue his education and he was going to go to work and provide for himself. The first job that interested my friend was being an electrician for the local company in town. He applied/interviewed for the opening at the electrician shop. The main electrician had him come and shadow him for a day to see the skills he had. After interviewing, they had to make a selection from three applications which my friend was not selected. The electrician company personally contacted my buddy and explained that if he had more experience and education he would have gotten the job. They also explained that after a simple social media check, they found pictures of him out partying underage which caused them to pick one of the other applicants. In response, my buddy went over his social media posts and deleted the ones that didn’t positively represent him. The next day, my buddy went to the local farmer who had an advertisement in the local newspaper. The farmer was looking for someone to help him harvest crops and care for livestock. This fits perfectly into my buddy's interests and therefore he went and talked to the farmer. The farmer asked what experience he had and what the reason he wanted the job for. My buddy responded that he helped his grandpa all the time growing up on the farm. He also said he would be willing to learn as he goes and learn from the farmer himself. The reason I’m here is because I was not accepted into college so I decided to come work instead of college. The farmer said that he would be interested in my buddy coming the next day to show what he knows. After the next day, the farmer sends my buddy home and lets him know that he will call if he is the one. The farmer is stuck in between two young adults and he looks online at social media. He finds the other applicant was not what he wanted and my buddy got the call. This shows that social media can affect you both positively and negatively.

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This story is fictional

One night, Ben was just finishing his last assignments to graduate college. He wants to someday own a business with digital design and videography but still doesn’t know what to make a business about. At the time, he was working on a construction site, pouring concrete. He really enjoyed his job and was one of the only things we wanted to do. As he was finishing college, he was stuck working on a business or continuing his career.
As he was scrolling through Instagram on a break, he came across several accounts owned by different construction companies. He realized that they are using different platforms to connect with clients and build brands of their companies. He was inspired and Ben realized that if these construction companies could use the power of social media for their success, Ben could do the same. He could use his love for both construction and design/videography and use it to make a flourishing business. With his work ethic and knowledge, Ben started researching different social media platforms and accounts for his entrepreneurial dreams. He went through different tutorials, case studies, and social media accounts to build is brand.
With new knowledge, Ben had begon to make is online debut. He created different social media accounts dedicated to his construction business. He began making logos and graphics, that immediately caught the eye of many future clients. He used his knowledge in video making and editing, to make videos showcasing construction projects from start to finish. Making amazing timelapses and different shots of the projects. His posts were visual amazing like they were being told as stories in a book. Ben would show different interviews of workers about their experiences on the site and how they went through challenges to make their hard work into a reality.
Ben had grew a large amount of followers who were in the hardest working people on his social media. They had shared and followed his accounts while promoting his content. He started to get even more clients as his content grew more and more everyday. The challenge of moving on into entrepreneurship from being a simple worker was hard in itself, Ben had to balance college work, construction work, and his own business at the same time. Yet he has grown into something way bigger than what he was able to before. He became very successful and well respected in the construction industry and was able to get partnerships and sponsorships. Also, he was able to monetize his brand through his social media to help him earn more in the mean time. Ben had built a successful social media brand dedicated to something he loves doing the most. He was able to showcase his passion, creativity, and his own authenticity to his niche by being able to grow a brand that he loves to do. He hopes to inspire others and help get the power of social media for others to share their passions. With digital content creation, the possibilities are endless for anyone who wants to take their first step and change their lives.

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Your digital footprint is super important in your future life and can 100% change your life plans in an instant. You may think that taking some type of picture won’t get out and affect your future at all, but then all of a sudden it gets posted somewhere that other people can see. After that happens, that picture can get put anywhere and everywhere, and you have no control over it. This would be a good life lesson to tell younger kids, saying that whatever you do now WILL affect your future. You have to be completely aware of what you post and who’s able to see the post. People need to realize that this can be both a positive and negative thing. It can be a positive thing because if you’re applying for college, a college may look at your instagram page and see you're a very social person and overall you're a good kid. There are also many negatives, for example, here’s Sam’s story. Sam knew from a young kid that he wanted to become a cop when he was older. All of his family members before him were police officers, and it was more or less a “family tradition”, and he knew that he wanted to keep that tradition going. When he reached age 18, he started thinking about college and decided he wanted to go to be an officer for sure. He ended up doing all of the classes and was about to start going on patrol. Right before he was supposed to go on call for the first time, his main boss asked him to step into his office because they needed to have a conversation. The first thing that came out of his boss’s mouth was “I’m going to need your badge.” Sam was devastated and immediately wanted to know what was happening/going on. The boss then told him all of the reasoning, and Sam had no idea what he was talking about. The boss had said that they were doing some background checks and noticed that Sam had had some encounters with cops before. A few years earlier, one of Sam’s past friends had posted a picture of a group of people, and each person had an alcoholic beverage in their hand, including Sam. After finding this picture, the cops decided to dig a little deeper and found even more pictures of Sam as a teenager underage drinking. The cops decided to ask Sam how often he had broken the law with that relating topic, and Sam confessed that for one summer of his life he went a little overboard. He admitted that that was his only messup, and the head cops respected that. The head cops talked it over for a little bit, and then came to the conclusion that because Sam was honest with the officers, they would forgive him and still give him a chance to get the job he has always been wanting. Sam knew he had made a mistake and should have told the officers right away, but he didn’t think of it and didn’t think his digital footprint would affect his future life and possibly ruin his chances.

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K.J. tried his best to get his works to be seen by the world. He wanted to be commissioned by people, in doing so he could create things that would challenge him. He asked people he knew if they had any interest in commissioning him, most of them rejected him and others were kind enough to buy his services. To him woodworking is something he is passionate about, his father was a carpenter and he wanted to follow in his footsteps. Day and night he would practice, to own his skills and to become just as good as his father, if not surpass him. As we grew he realized he wanted to do carpentry as a job, and started to research potential jobs. He stumbled upon someone on social media who was good with carpentry. Soon enough K.J. found himself watching multiple videos by the creator and wanted to try something similar. Although nervous at first he posted videos of his creations online, but there was no response. He didn’t care so much about it, if anything he knew something like this would happen, non the less he would continue to post every time he made something new. Over time his account following grew, not by much though, he didn't mind of course. Some more time passed and started to realize that he needed a job so he thought he would put his skills to the test and try to sell some of his work. He set up an online store, showcasing his beautifully crafted wooden furniture and art pieces. To his surprise, his first few items sold quickly, and he couldn't believe the joy he felt when packing them up for shipping. K.J. was finally turning his passion into a modest income. He realized that this was a good opportunity for him to grow. He wanted to continue to create things as a side job. He got to work, he updated his profile, built his brand as a woodworking artist, and in doing so he uploaded daily. He would post tips and tricks on his page, repost other people’s videos, and even ask bigger creators to review his works. K.J.'s online presence would soon grow, and his content began to gain recognition, not only from woodworking enthusiasts but also from potential employers. He understood the risk he took if things went south, or if people lost interest, but nonetheless he continued to make and create. A local company saw his work online and offered him a job. They had seen his profile and noticed that he had the potential to become a great craftsman. K.J. was ecstatic; his dream of following in his father's footsteps as a carpenter was finally coming true. He accepted the job offer with gratitude and excitement. Working for the company allowed him to continue to hone his skills and learn more from an experienced carpenter. As the years passed, K.J. became a respected member of the woodworking community, both online and in his local area.

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This a fictional story and it doesn't represent anybody

When I was a kid I enjoyed playing all day with my friends, but the way We used to play was quite questionable. We  liked to make jokes about each other's physiques, familiar situations, school grades, clothes, phones, we also had a group to send funny pictures and memes. We all would take the jokes with humor, at the end of the day we were just trying to have fun and not trying to harm anyone.

When me and my friends reached the sixteens whe obviously had acquired more knowledge about the world and the problems around it, we understood the world a little bit more than before, therefore our humor evolved, and not for good actually, now sometimes we would drop heavy jokes about skin color, ethnicity and stuff like that, this led to problems with our parents and some kids with who we were trying to get along with, but let's be serious, who wants friends with that kind of humor?, so whenever we wanted someone to be part of our group it ended up on nothing but he or she getting away, of course this brought difficulties for us, because that kid that just ran away from us would go and tell another kid about us and now that other kid would run away from us too, so yeah basically getting new friends was a problem for us. Now on the other hand, our parents often talked with each one of the group about our behavior and that we should change it, but none of us cared enough, “we are just kids, no one cares”, we would say.

At school we were well known for our humor. There was a time we screwed up and posted a picture of a random kid, we thought it would be funny, I mean it certainly was funny, but it wasn’t correct. After that teachers tried to keep each of us away from the rest of the students. We kinda understood it, they just wanted to keep the other kids out of any problems. The moment that changed all of us was when we were not invited to a school trip. Just imagine being told that you are not invited to go somewhere because the rest of the kids don't feel comfortable around you. Maybe this was unfair, maybe not,  but we took it not to the heart, but to the brain. If we are having trouble with a school trip, imagine not being accepted in a college or a job because of something like that. I told this to each of my friends and we all shared opinions. That was the moment we swore we would change, maybe we would make one or two jokes occasionally, but not the kinds of jokes we used to do, we swore we would think before doing, after that things got a little bit better, the rest of kid now wouldn't be afraid or uncomfortable with us, and teachers would keep us away from anyone.

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Your digital footprint is very important on your life and can change the course of your life with one thing. Your digital footprint should always be good and show postive things that can help you with getting accpeted to college and or getting a job. Even more than just your digital footprint you should be cautions about you should also be cautisions about your self promotion which has to deal with how people around you think about you. I have been a pen pal with lots of people, to this date I have been pen pals with about 17 people. One of the people that has really stuck out to me is someone named Paul Rul, and he lives up in New York City and we have been pen pales for over 5 years. Paul Rul is a very famous lawyer and he has had a great path to get to this point in his life. Paul Rul was a very smart kid in high school he attended math bees to even going to Lydon B. Johnson Space Center in Texas! On his way in high school he posted lots of pictures about these things and they got lots of attention on social media. He soon later got sponsors to attend things for them because he was starting to get very popular all over the internet. One stroy he told me about was someone was offering to fly him to London and speak infront of a group of people about how he has came been brought to this point in life. Sadly though, he denied it he was to invested in his studies because he wanted to get into Havard Law school and become the best lawyer in New York. When he sent his application to Harvard it took them 4 months to get back to him to see if he had got in to the school or not. Once they had finally got back to him it was a very long letter. They had added in, “We at Harvard Univertisyt are very impressed with your digital footprint and how you never posted anything bad, and you only post things that are meaningful to you online.” Finally towards the end of the letter it told him that he got in and was accepted to go to Harvard the following year. Once he had got their he started making sure his digital footprint was good and kept that same pace all 4 years of college. He was a straight A student and passed law school 4 years later and was so excited. Once he started applying for jobs they started coming in like crazy and he got loads of job offers from many companies wanting him to come work for them. Fast forward 5 years later he has been working his butt off and it one of the best lawyers in America. Paul Rul is a very caring person and his digital footprint has showed that you can do anything that you put your mind to.

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I have a friend that went to school for elementary education, but by her senior year in college, she realized teaching was not for her. Sadly, she did not end up using her teaching degree. She was upset at first, because she spent all that money on a degree she will never use. She couldn’t find a job when she got out of college, and her family was very concerned for her. Eventually, she got a fulltime job in Rock Valley. She knew that this job was only temporary, because it was not something she wanted to do for the rest of her life. She tried finding other jobs but it was not successful. One night she was laying in bed and she came across a TikTok that caught her attention. She became inspired by social media influencers to start practicing nail art. She bought supplies and nail polish and started practicing on manikin hands. She started taking nail art very seriously, but never posted anything about it on social media. With support from her friends and family, she posted some of her designs on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. It was supposed to be a small side job for her, but eventually she was getting a lot of private messages asking if she could do peoples’ nails. She was blown away by how fast her work spread across the internet. In a matter of months, her side job blew up. On top of her fulltime job right now, she has 1-3 appointments available each day for people to sign up for. Considering she is not a professional and has no schooling background for nail art,  her prices are very cheap, and her designs are beautiful. This draws in a lot of clients for her. She had to make different business accounts on social media for herself, because her business was taking over her personal social media. Her business was growing quicker than she thought it would, and she was not prepared for it. Considering the amount of clients she now has, she wants to invest in her own manicure business. She is currently doing nail art from her apartment, and it is taking up too much space. She is saving up forty percent of her small business profit to start her own professional business. All because she posted her art on social media, her work was spread to many different people. This caused her business to grow, and now she is making a lot more money on top of her fulltime job. Because of her digital footprint, she is slowly starting a business she loves. Throughout her life in college, she never would have pictured herself in this position. However, she is very thankful for everything that her clients have given her. She now has a lot more opportunities that she never thought she would have had. She has the chance to practice her art on several different people. She is also getting very positive feedback from people on social media, which is inspiring her to continue.

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I have a friend who went to college to become a doctor. She finished schooling and was very happy to become a doctor. Once she was done in school she went and applied to a hospital close to where she was living. When she went to apply for a job they warned her that they would be looking her name up to find out some information about her to make sure she was a good fit to work at the hospital. She was scared at first because she didn’t know if they would find anything they didn’t like and would make her end up not having a job, and she really wanted the job. When she found out they would be looking up her social media she went straight home to look her name up to try and see what kind of things they would end up finding out about her. When she looked up her name she found nothing bad about herself, as a matter of fact, the most she found was all the posts she made on Twitter about how her dream job had always been becoming a doctor. A few weeks passed and the hospital got back to her with good news that they wanted to hire her! She was so happy that she was jumping up and down in joy. She started working there and she loved it, or so she thought. After a few months, she found out that being a doctor would become mentally challenging for her. She ended up quitting her job, and she didn’t work for months. One day she was scrolling through Instagram and found an account that posted a lot of inspiring poems. She went through the account for multiple hours that day reading every single poem on it. That’s when she realized that she really did enjoy poems and wanted to try and write some of her own. She messaged the owner of the account for some tips on how to start writing poetry. The owner got back to her right away with a bunch of tips. The tip that stuck out the most to her was “Always have a main topic, it's easier to write about things you relate to.” Later that night she wrote down a few things that she really related to. Out of those topics, the one she picked was toxic love. The first piece of poetry that she wrote took her at least a month to finish. Once she finished her first piece of poetry she posted it on her Snapchat story to get feedback and to see if people would read more of her poetry. She got a whole bunch of replies and it was all positive! Her favorite reply was “Reading this made me realize how being in love isn’t always pretty, no matter how much you wanted it to be.” That’s when she knew that she wanted to write about what it was like to be in love with someone who was toxic. After a year of writing poetry, she got really good and she published her first book full of poems about toxic love, and so many people bought it and loved it so much. It’s now been seventeen years since she posted her very first book, and she has over 20,000 people who love to read her books. She reached back out to the account owner who had originally inspired her to write poetry in the first place. The person was very happy to hear and even told her that she was a huge fan of all the books that she had published and that she had actually bought every single book. When my friend found that out she cried happy tears because she never thought the person who inspired her to become a writer would ever like her books, let alone notice all of her books! That’s when she made a huge post on twitter talking about the girl who had inspired her to become a writer. She was so thankful that she had come across her account on Instagram because it was just what she needed. Overall the main thing she really pointed out is how one person's small post on Instagram could help change a person's whole career path. The two girls eventually met for the first time and came up with an amazing idea to write a poem about what it's like to be inspired by a person just over a post on social media, and how it was okay to change career paths. Because of someone else’s digital footprint, she was able to become a really good poetry writer, and find out she loved something she never thought that she would ever love to do. My friend had created a huge fan base just because of someone she didn’t know. Now that she has published over 15 poetry books, she has made a huge impact on other people and inspired other people to try and write poetry. She thinks about that every day and always makes a spot in her books for tips to help anyone start writing poetry. She always gets positive feedback which has continued to inspire her to keep writing poetry, but that's not the only thing. She was mostly inspired by how many people she had inspired to start writing poetry. She is now 37 and she has completely changed her writing topic to happiness.

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Finally, Sarah made it to her senior year of high school. She was ready to get school over with and graduate. She had worked insanely hard throughout all her years of school. She had to if she would get into the college she wanted. Sarah had known since she was a young girl that she wanted to be a lawyer, just like her parents. However, she wanted to go one step further. She wanted to go to Harvard. She had done everything in her power to make sure that she would make it to Harvard. She did all of her homework perfectly and studied an incredible amount. She had a perfect 4.00 GPA throughout her school years. Also, she did five extracurricular activities. She was on the debate team, the academic decathlon team, and the student council. She was also in the National Beta Club and the National Honor Society.

The only thing Sarah wasn’t ready for was pictures. Because she was in so many extracurricular activities, she was all over the school’s web page and social media accounts. That meant posing for pictures constantly. She had tried talking to the school about it, but they insisted she be in them. She didn’t know why. It didn’t even do anything! It was just some pictures that people didn’t even take time to look at. Nonetheless, she relented and let the school continue posting pictures of her.

That wasn’t the important thing, though. Today, Sarah will be submitting her application to Harvard. She was incredibly nervous. This was her dream. She wouldn’t know what she would do if she didn’t get accepted. Sarah sat down and got started. After she triple-checked her application, she clicked send. Now, all she had to do was wait.

It had been two whole months and Sarah still hadn’t heard from Harvard. She was beginning to lose hope. She thought her application was good! Her parents and teachers even told her that she had a great chance of getting into Harvard. Sarah sighed as she sat in her last-period class. Maybe she should start looking into other colleges. It was becoming quite clear that she wasn’t getting into Harvard. She was jolted out of her thoughts by the bell ringing. She quickly grabbed her stuff and drove home.

As soon as she got home, she finished her homework as fast as she could and flopped onto her bed. Just as she was about to fall asleep, she heard her email notification go off on her laptop. Sarah groaned and pushed herself up. She squinted as she read who the email was from. It was from Harvard! She clicked on the email, read through it, rubbed her eyes, and reread it.

To: Sarah H. Aronson

From: William R. Fitzsimmons

Date: Thursday, January 14, 2023

Subject: Acceptance Letter

Dear Ms. Aronson,

Congratulations! On behalf of Harvard University, I am pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Harvard. We are excited to welcome you to the Harvard University community and are eager to engage with you in the coming months. The Harvard University team is confident that your participation throughout the course will be invaluable to your fellow students.

Please, contact the admissions counselor below to get everything set up before your move into the Harvard campus.

We look forward to having you join us! Welcome to Harvard University!

Sincerely,

William Fitzsimmons

Sarah couldn’t believe it. She got accepted! She raced up the stairs to tell her parents. Her parents were so proud of her. They all went out for supper at Sarah’s favorite restaurant. Once they got back, Sarah immediately sent an email to the Harvard admissions counselor, so she could set up a meeting. That Friday, Sarah got on a Zoom meeting with the Harvard admissions counselor. Everything was going great! All of a sudden, the admissions counselor spoke.

“You know, the achievements in your extracurricular activities are extraordinary. I’ve never seen someone who was able to do that well in so many activities while also excelling in school,” the admissions counselor said.

Sarah was confused. She had said in her application that she did extracurricular activities, but she never went into detail about the achievements she got from them.

“How did you know about the achievements? I never spoke of them in my application,” Sarah questioned.

“Harvard does an Internet background check on all applicants,” the admissions counselor explained, “There are a lot of people who do bad things on the Internet. We deny their application if they do. When we searched for you on the Internet, you were all over your school’s social media. It actually played a part in why we accepted you. People can say that they are in extracurricular activities, but a lot of the time they don’t actually try. You, however, do.”

Sarah was surprised. She guessed that maybe being on the school’s social media did have a good impact.

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Now in these days, you have to be aware of what you post because it can or will affect your future. Like in the vignette, the cousin posted a picture of them with alcohol when they were only 17 years old. This impacted her future because she was breaking the law and trying to get a job in the jail with follows the laws. She didn't get the job because of what she posted on social media 5 years ago when she was only 17 because she wasn't making smart choices and didn't think it would affect her own future. This tells us to be aware of what we post and think about your future before you do so because now colleges and where you apply are starting to look deeper to see what kind of person you are. But don't fear social media can also help you out because it can make you look good. If you don't post anything bad and post good things on social media like Instagram or Facebook it can lead to good things for example online businesses post there products on Instagram and other social media platforms. Like for example Bryan Barranco-Gomez uses social media to help his family business on selling tacos. Bryan uses Snapchat because everyone uses it the most at this time and it is a easy way to promote the business. Bryan posts the address and the things they are selling, and the time they will be selling. Bryan also lets people dine in and eat there if they want to which is good! Bryan's dad also promotes the business using Facebook this gets the attention of older people to come and get some food because on Snapchat it is a younger audience, while on Facebook it is an older audience. This is how social media helps them get more people to come and eat and makes their business more known. Bryan is also a kind and smart person and people know that by looking at his social media because he doesn't post anything bad about himself or anyone. He is also just like that in person kind, funny, and smart. This gives a boost to their business because if people wanted to see if he's rude or mean they probably wouldn't go and eat his tacos but since he isn't this means a good service from him and that's what everyone likes. This is very true because some businesses have gone bad because of people's social media reputation because they would post bad things, like being mean to others and racist and people would see that and would not buy their product at all because of who they are just because of a photo or video they posted in the past. Let this be a life lesson because what you do in the past can affect your future very bad or very good, so think twice before you post something and ask yourself will this be good or bad for me in the future? Because whatever you post in the internet will stay in the internet forever even if you delete it yourself people out there will still remember.

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When we share pictures online we need to be careful of who can see but, also sometimes posting online can have a good impact. We like to share any experiences that are good or can encourage people to do or get. Social media can be a good tool but also sometimes it can be a bad tool. Therefore,  think before you post on social media. What you post is what people will think about you. If you want to be known as a good person don’t post bad pictures. If you want to be known as a bad person then you will not be seen as a good person and this will affect your future and possibly your life.

My friend was 18 years old. She found a good way to use social media. She would post pictures of her outfits for each day. Then, she would let people buy her clothes or rate her outfits of the day. She decided she wanted to make a business so she made an online market store. Years later, she decided she wanted to do more than just online. So, she opened her own store and she called it “Fashion Economy” and started to hire people. These are people she thought that would best fit her styles. Each different season she would switch her clothes up to something new. ForFot example, for summer she would do more of the shorts and dress outfits. For spring she would do more of jeans and legging outfits. Then, for winter more sweaters, and coats.

When doing photoshoots it's important to have all different types and sizes of people. So, she could show anyone could have her clothes. No matter what size they are. Size does not matter, you can be you no matter what. Fashion is for everyone. So, she experienced social media in a good way. This shows social media can not always be shown as bad. There is more you can do then bad. It's still important what you decide to post because if it's back it will come and get you in a bad way. So, choose to make it a good way and learn how to create business.

After a few years of posting her clothing choices it was official, my friend was officially a social media influencer. Soon people would ask her opinions on clothing and makeup. She started to add more and more to her business. She started to get lots of followers and she was in great business. Her clothes were starting to get sold faster and faster. She added plus sizes and pettit. She could not keep up with the orders so she decided to hire more people. She soon got so much money she moved into a mansion. She started to add more products to her business. She started to add perfumes and lotions along with some jewelry. She started to build her store bigger and add more room.

She soon was getting famous for her store. She was known for selling the most products. She was one of the world's number one stores with the best selling. People wanted to be just like her. She was showing people how easy it can be to make a business. And the impact that is possible. She showed the world that anything is possible and that there is no impossible. It took her a lot of work. But, she eventually got where she needed to be. She was known all over the world for her store and her famous products. She ended up getting invited to join the fashion show in New York City. After she went to fashion week in New York, she got more orders and her prices increased. Because of this she was able to increase all her prices and get more money.

In conclusion by starting out showing her outfits of the day. She began with not many customers. As time went by,  she got better and learned more. She increased all her products. And she began to get more and more audience. She got her own business spot plus her online store. Then, she was able to go to the fashion shows and show off all her clothes. Next, her prices started to increase and she got to get more money for her business. She showed the world what was possible. She was a famous person for all her work she did, which included designing, marketing, traveling to New York, and being an influencer. She also showed that hard work pays off, and in the long run she showed other people and customers what a good hard working person could accomplish.

Someday, I hope that I can be an influencer with what I do with my life. I plan to be a hard worker and a good, excellent role model for everyone to see.

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Posting on the internet could help your future self or harm it in some way. Most people don’t think that your posts on social media won’t affect you, but what they don't know is that nowadays some colleges or jobs will look you up and see what kind of person you are. It’s super important to maintain a good reputation on social media now. I believe that people should realize what they are posting before they post it. If not your future college or work can look back on your social media and see something you might not want them to. Nowadays people post things without realizing that their future boss can view them. Social media can also be a positive thing. Many business owners find it successful to promote. Like Javier Cardenas used his social media to start a platform of his own. He first started off posting his truck and the next cars that he liked on his Instagram page.

Javier’s family, and friends from school helped promote his Instagram account. I was seeing “go follow nasty Iowa vehicles” in lots of people's stories. Lots of people around here have heard of his page. Many repost him, gaining him tons of views and followers on his Instagram. Next, he created a TikTok account to begin posting on. From the start, he had followers on TikTok that came from his Instagram.

He spent time making a logo using his slogan Nasty Iowa Vehicles. He created something new and his followers loved it.

Later on, he started to make stickers for vehicles, people were putting them on the back window of their vehicles. After the first design was a hit he created more. This is when he knew he had made it. After a few designs of his own, he and another company collaborated. Combining their ideas they came up with collab stickers. He started to put his logo onto shirts, and sweatshirts.

He was on TikTok creating his videos over and over. He showed passion for creating them. Some of his posts gained lots of views and others didn't. It's completely a learning process to find what people want to see. As he continuously posted his popularity grew. Gaining numerous likes, comments, shares, reposts, and followers he passed goals previously set. Later on, he used his fame and posted on his Instagram story about the cruise night location, and the time it would start, Later he started to do cruise nights every month. On cruise nights there were a lot of people with trucks and cars, he would post pictures of cars and trucks going by.

The reason that I am telling you this story, is because this shows that if you behave on social media you have an advantage due to the fact that you post good environment posts. Most colleges and jobs will look at your social media to see what kind of person you are.

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Your present self impacts your future self. This can be depending on what you post, what you share, or what decisions you make. Many people don't realize it at the moment but when it comes to a real life situation they begin to realize how much it matters. My parents, for example, had the idea of selling food. They just weren’t exactly sure how we would get customers or where we would sell. When we told our close family members about our idea of selling tacos they thought that it was a great idea and said they would help us in every possible way. My parents have been selling for about 5 months now and have had big success. It started off by my sister and I posting videos and pictures on social media where we show the garage set up and my dad and uncle cooking. But what really helped us out throughout this whole process was being able to post every time we sold tacos on social media and having friends and family repost it on facebook, instagram, or snapchat. Soon my parents started asking what people recommended for future sales in person and on social media. My parents took all of the customers' ideas and tried them out. We made a lot of different salsas until we found a perfect one, we tried selling new drinks, and we also began selling new meats.  We also took some recommendations that people gave us about what types of food to sell as well so we  wouldn't just sell tacos. Social media has also helped my family's business when we need meat and supplies every weekend. They communicate with companies every week so that they have the supplies they need. That way they can just go pick them up before every saturday. Social media has also helped us in other ways. They have people that ask for them to go to an event and sell food. Although we aren’t able to do that, we have had a lot of success so far. We have received a lot of customers from different towns, cities, and even states. They never imagined having a big public to sell to but with the help of social media and being kind, humble, and joyful and after so many struggles they have finally gotten so much in return. A lot of people comment and say how our tacos are different from every other restaurant around here and hope that in the future we are able to grow and have a restaurant of our own. The main reason why I told this short story of the success that my parents have had so far is because Social media has had a huge impact in their lives. From starting only with a small community and a few people to having a lot of customers come in every weekend. Sometimes social media doesn't have to always be negative. Now thanks to social media it has left a positive footprint on the business. They are looking forward to their future with the business and hope to grow throughout the years and pray to have great success. If it wasn’t for the support of our family and social media we wouldn’t have grown into a successful business these past 5 years. And it is always awesome meeting new people from different places and communicating with them through social media.

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I am going to talk about how Digital footprint improved/ helped my sister's business grow, and expand to what it is today. The business is called Abarrotes Gasca. It's a Mexican store that also sells different varieties of meat. I will tell you how she used social media and what benefits it gave her in the long run with her family business. She also had her younger kids promote the store on social media which helped it expand as well. She was able to get products that people want on social media.

When my sister first started her business last year she had her kids help her promote it a little bit on facebook. She also had my sister and I post it on our instagram and our snapchat stories trying to get more customers. At first not many people were actually showing up. It took a few months of promoting every product they had to have a good amount of customers in a day. Every week we would all post new things about the store whether it was remodeled or even new products that consumers wanted to buy. They also made a facebook page for the store in which they asked the people what it was that they needed at the store to attract more people. They took every person's Idea into consideration and most of the items were found and brought to the store.

After all the promotions, more and more customers started to come to the store and buy products. They used facebook, instagram, and snapchat as social medias that attracted customers. They always post on social media every week when there's new products and what they sell most is meat because no one in rock valley sells meat like they do. They always post when new bread from the bakery in Sioux City comes in. Everyone loves fresh bread so it usually sells out in a few days, if not in one day. Its really crazy the power that social media has. They thought it would be hard to get customers because it's a mexican store which is more difficult to have hispanics find on social media because some hispanics don't know how to use social media. Especially the older generation that were used to not having phones, it is hard to find posts or use technology. Social media was a hit or miss, either it worked out or it didn't. At the end of the day the people who did see the social media post talked about it to other family members or peers. Word got around town and even more people started coming to the store. Its mostly packed everyday from 4 till 8 and in the mornings there's still quite a bit of people who go to the store.

The last way that social media helped out the business was that the city actually had a ceremonie where they got to go to cedar rock with the mayor of rock valley and basically talk about the business. They were taken pictures of and they got to cut the rope at their restaurant to officially say that it's there in the town of rock valley. The mayor took pictures with them and was posted on facebook, the news and many more social media sites. They became more popular and now all types of races go there to support the business and help expand it. Luckily the business has rapidly increased and is soon going to be expanded and made more known through many social media apps and even the news.

The reason I tell you this story about my sister and her business is to show how powerful social media is, especially in a positive way. They way it helps out people when no one else can. It brings hope to anyone who knows how to use it for good. The business and her family were affected positively by helping them grow with more customers and also with more people talking about how it's a good place to shop at. They are able to expand their business even more now with the help of the promotions on social media they created and the logos they made for the store to attract more people helped them a lot. It increased their popularity and business. The power of social media can affect your life Positively if you know how to use it right and also for the good instead of the bad.

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The way you represent yourself on the internet is very important. The way people perceive you and what they can see when looking you up can greatly influence a college or job decision. This can be both positive and negative. Take Dana Smith for example.

Dana was very passionate about marine biology. She lived near the East Coast, so she was able to go enjoy the ocean whenever she wanted. Something about marine biology that struck her attention was conservation. She was very passionate about helping endangered species. As Dana got older, her passions only grew. By the time she was a junior in high school, she wanted to become more involved in marine biology and conservation. She decided that she wanted to start a research project.

Her research project was about endangered species and what is causing them to become endangered. She researched online about various endangered species and also went to the beach near her house to search for possible causes for why they became endangered. During this process, her friends encouraged her to share her journey on social media. At first, she was hesitant because she didn’t want people to judge her. Eventually, her friends convinced her to share her passion with the world by creating a YouTube channel.

On this YouTube channel, she shared daily vlogs about the research she had conducted that day. At the end of every week, she posted a longer video about the findings she made that week and what that meant for her future research. She continued this project all of her junior year into the summer before her senior year.

At the end of the summer, she started thinking about college. Of course, since she lived on the East Coast, there were many schools with marine biology programs. She decided to visit a few of the colleges with the best marine biology programs. One of these was Boston University. Towards the end of the visit, she was able to meet with an admissions counselor. To her surprise, the counselor knew her by name. The counselor asked if she was the girl with the YouTube channel who was researching endangered species. Dana replied and said that she was. The counselor was very impressed with her work and discussed the research program that Boston University offers to undergraduates.

After Dana got home, she had a lot to think about. She loved the visit to Boston University, but it was far away from her home and where her friends were going. She brought the idea up to her friends and family, and they were all very supportive of her going to Boston University. Dana thought about it some more and decided to apply to Boston University. They accepted her decision. They were very impressed by her YouTube channel. When classes started in the fall, she was offered a position in their research program for marine biology.

As you can see, Dana was given an opportunity because of how she used her social media. This shows that social media is not only bad for college and job decisions. It can also help you gain opportunities that might not have been available if it weren’t for your social media presence.