It’s important to monitor your online presence to protect your reputation and your privacy. Knowing who is looking at you online is a critical element in protecting your online identity.
The first step is to Google your name. You may be shocked by the number of sites that appear in a Google search of your name. Knowledge is power when it comes to protecting your online image, privacy and photos. You expect a Google search to yield results for Facebook and LinkedIn. You might be surprised to learn that Google shows results from family history websites, newspaper archives, including crime reports and even on YouTube for that prank you played when you were 17.
Fortunately, there are several ways to monitor your online presence or set up alerts to monitor your online presence, according to IT Services marketing expert, Stuart Crawford from Ulistic.
There is not a way to see who has viewed a regular Facebook post. But if you post to your Facebook Stories, the post is only visible for 24 hours — if you look at the lower left corner of your post, you’ll see an “eye” icon with a number beside it. Click on the number, and you will see the specific friends who have viewed this post.
Facebook Friends Algorithm
While no one knows the exact particulars of Facebook’s Friends algorithm, research shows that the amount of Facebook interactions, how many times someone has viewed your profile, how many times you have viewed someone else’s profile and how often someone has viewed your photos affects the order that your “friends” list is displayed.
While there is not a way to monitor who searches on you on Google, you can set up a Google alert so that you know when new data about you appears on Google. If you don’t have a Google account, set up your account. While you are logged in, create an alert. Whenever Google detects new content containing your name, you’ll get an email alert. Content sources include websites, newspapers articles, blog posts, message boards and scientific research.
Instagram, owned by Facebook since 2012, is similar to Facebook in that if your Instagram account is private, no one can view your photographs. But like Facebook, you can see who has viewed your Instagram story.
Someone can look at you on LinkedIn if they are already a member of LinkedIn or through a Google search which will show your public profile information. LinkedIn is one of few platforms that provides its members an easy way to see who’s looking at your profile.
Simply log in to your account. On the left side of the screen beneath your name, you’ll see a link — “Who’s viewed your profile” — just to the right of the link, LinkedIn shows how many people have viewed your profile. Click on that number, and you’ll see details about who has been looking at your profile. However, you won’t always be able to know the name of everyone who has looked at your profile; members can view other members in the Private mode, even if you pay for a Premium account.
Twitter users have access to a little more information about the people who are looking at them than they have on Facebook. However, you won’t have access to their names. You will, however, be able to learn quite a bit about the people interacting with you on Twitter.
To view your audience data, click the “down” arrow beside your name and select Analytics. Twitter users have access to:
- Followers’ demographics, locations and interests
- Your top follower
- Tweeter activity that enables you to create more engaging tweets
Build an online resume
It’s easier than ever with user-friendly, affordable domain hosting services. Companies like InMotion Hosting, Bluehost and GoDaddy provide easy-to-use templates and a variety of hosting options. If you’re fortunate, you can purchase your name as your domain name. In fact, whether you anticipate creating an online resume or not, it’s a wise decision to purchase your name as a domain name if it’s still available and continue renewing it for life.
Your resume website will soon come up as the first search result when someone searches for you online so your resume will be what most people will click on this if they are doing an online search for you.
Be sure to embed Google Analytics into your online resume. Google Analytics begins working right away and provides the following information about who is looking at your resume:
- Age
- Country
- Frequency of visits
- Gender
- Interests
- Search terms used
Once you see the demographics of who is looking at you, you can tweak your online profile or customize your work samples more specifically toward the demographics of the online searches.
The Bottom Line …
Unfortunately, there is no way to find the names of the people who are searching for you online, except for LinkedIn — and even LinkedIn won’t provide the names of every person who has looked at your profile online. However, the demographics and levels of activity from people who have searched for you online provide valuable insights about the kind of people who are looking at you online.