How Big Is Your Digital Trail

There are a lot of us who are on Social Media sharing our opinions, likes, relationship status and of course we commenting on others who are doing the same stuff. Each transaction there generates data. When you press the "Like" button or spend more time on a page, there is data about your preferences being generated. Look at this list that I got from Marcia O'Connor's blog post.

• People send more than 144.8 billion Email messages sent a day.
• People and brands on Twitter send more than 340 million tweets a day.
• People on Facebook share more than 684,000 bits of content a day.
• People upload 72 hours (259,200 seconds) of new video to  YouTube a minute.
• Consumers spend $272,000 on Web shopping a day.
• Google receives over 2 million search queries a minute.
• Apple receives around 47,000 app downloads a minute.
• Brands receive more than 34,000 Facebook ‘likes’a minute.
• Tumblr blog owners publish 27,000 new posts a minute.
• Instagram photographers share 3,600 new photos a minute.
• Flickr photographers upload 3,125 new photos a minute.
• People perform over 2,000 Foursquare check-ins a minute.
• Individuals and organizations launch 571 new websites a minute.
• WordPress bloggers publish close to 350 new blog posts a minute.
• The Mobile Web receives 217 new participants a minute.

This data throws open tonnes of possibilities. Retailers could use this data not only to customize everything and also use predictive analytics to predict what you are most likely to buy next.Employers could use (and clearly some of them do use) data available on social media to learn about potential employee's views, opinions and affiliations. And in case you are wondering about privacy, remember that there is very little on the net that is not accessible using the technology that is already available.There is no delete button on the Net. Everything is searchable on the Net.The sites that have now grown defunct because you don't visit them anymore still retain your data. The data about yourself that you posted because you wanted to complete a transaction stays on that site. The site may be sold and bought out many times over and there is every likelihood that every one who is buying off the old site may not be as cautious about your personal data. And then there are hackers who have shown that there are very few sites that they cannot crack open if they really wish to.CareerBuilder recently carried out this survey among HR departments to know how they are using information found on social networking sites. Check out the survey results <click here>They can use the digital breadcrumbs that you leave behind to suss out candidates who possess certain skills like creativity and communication savvy. They can also find out the kind of professional reputation a person has based on the kind of groups that they participate in. So companies are known to hire geeks based on some of the sites that post problems and have the solutions get evaluated by peers.But the employers also uncover the not so pleasant information about candidates

• 9% shared provocative or inappropriate photos or information
• 45% listed information about drinking or using drugs
• 33% bad-mouthed a previous employer
• 28% made discriminatory comments

This is much more than what an employer will uncover through a regular job interview.A simple analysis of the time spent on phone calls you make versus the time spent on calls you receive can give a phone company valuable information about the customers who are influencers. The influencers are being courted by product companies and service providers to get them to spread a kind word about the product or service. In the same way, employers can leverage information about influencers when they wish to change policies and procedures.LinkedIn. Facebook. Twitter. Email. IM. Text messages. Blogs. It is all generating a digital trail that is growing bigger and bigger ... are you ready for it?---------------------------------------------Read more about this:Source of data : Data on Big Data by Marcia ConnerSource: The Digital You at Work: What to Consider, MIT Sloan Mgt Review