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How to clean up your digital footprint - and why it matters more than you think

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Do you know who's looking at your old Tumblr? Your abandoned Flickr account? Or your posts from five years ago, casually sitting on your public X profile?

They could stay buried in the graveyard of forgotten accounts. Or, they could make you vulnerable the next time someone decides to do a deep dive on you and your online history.

By now, most adults are likely used to living some portion of their lives online.

Also: Did your logins just get leaked? How to check online for free (and what to do next)

In fact, there are about 5.7 billion social media users worldwide, and the average user bounces among roughly seven accounts every month, according to Sprout Social.

What's true now, as it was in the early days of social media, when horror stories spread about people losing jobs because of an unfortunate photo dump the morning after a wild evening, is that our digital footprints are growing and require regular maintenance.

"Whether you're going for a new job or whether you're dating somebody, or maybe you're signing a deal or whatever it might be -- it is quite common for people to try and find information about another person," said Luke Thompson, founder of Signal Advisory, a UK-based reputation management firm. "Clearly, Google and social media is the place to do that."

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