As in 2006, we asked a battery of questions about the different kinds of personal information that may be available about the respondent online. The introduction to the question reads: “We’d like to know if any of the following information about you is available on the internet for others to see—it doesn’t matter if you posted it yourself or someone else posted it.” Respondents were also given the option to say that they did not know whether a given piece of information was available, and for many questions, respondents expressed a high level of uncertainty. While the affirmative answers paint a portrait of the user’s impression of what is available, they likely do not reflect the full extent to which these pieces of information could be uncovered by a motivated searcher. In addition, some of these items could be available publicly while others may be posted to a restricted profile or website.

Among employed internet users, 44% say that details about whom they work for are available online.

Close to half (44%) of employed internet users now say that details about whom they work for are posted online, up from 35% in 2006. Employed online adults who have higher levels of education and income are more likely than other internet users to say this information is available. For example, 53% of employed internet users with a college degree say that information about whom they work for is available online for others to see, compared with 36% of those with a high school degree.

Photos put a face to our digital footprints; 42% of internet users say a photo of them is available online, up from just 23% in 2006.

As participation in social networking sites has grown, so too has the posting of photos, which is a central element to profile creation. Overall, 42% of internet users say that a photo of them is available on the internet for others to see, which represents a huge increase from the 23% of internet users who said the same in 2006. Among SNS users, fully 71% say that photos of them are available online, compared with just 18% of non-SNS users.

For internet users, the prospect of having a personal photo displayed online decreases sharply with age. Looking at the standard age breaks, 68% of young adult internet users ages 18-29 say that photos of them are available online, compared with 44% of those ages 30-49, 24% of those ages 50-64 and 17% of wired seniors ages 65 and older.

However, among social networking users, the dropoff is much less severe; while 78% of SNS users ages 18-29 say that photos of them are available online for others to see, 65% of SNS users ages 30-49 and 66% of those ages 50 and older say that photos are available online.

Home broadband users are twice as likely as dial-up users to say that photos of them are available online (46% vs. 22%). Likewise, those with wireless internet access are more likely than those without to say that photos of them are posted on the internet for others to see (50% vs. 26%).

One in three (33%) internet users say their birth date is available online.

One in three internet users say their birth date is available online for others to see.¹¹ However, 50% of young adult internet users say their birth date is posted online, compared with 33% of users ages 30-49 and about one in five users ages 50 and older. This trend may be tied to the inclusion of birth dates on social networking profiles; 51% of SNS users say their birth date is accessible online while just 18% of non-users say their birth date is available.

Likewise, among young adult SNS users, the numbers are even higher; fully 59% of them say that their birth date is available online. By comparison, 46% of SNS users ages 30-49 and 43% of those ages 50 and older say their birth date is posted online.

12% of internet users say their cell phone number is available on the internet for others to see, up from 6% in 2006.

While some people cautiously guard their cell phone number, 12% of internet users say their cell number is posted on the internet for others to see. That segment is twice as large as it was in 2006, when just 6% of internet users said their cell phone number was available online.

Male internet users are more likely than female internet users to say their cell phone number is accessible on the internet (15% vs. 10%). In keeping with the above trends, young adults are also more likely than older users to say that their cell phone number is available online. One in five (20%) report this, compared with 11% of internet users ages 30-49, 9% of those ages 50-64 and 7% of those ages 65 and older.

10% of internet users say a video of them is available online, up from only 2% in 2006.

One in ten internet users now say that video of them is available on the internet for others to see, which represents a five-fold increase since 2006. Unlike with photos, there are significant gender differences when it comes to video. Male internet users are more likely than female internet users to say that video of them is available online (13% vs. 7%).

As is the case with photos, young adults are far more likely than their elders to say that video of them is available online. One in four (25%) internet users ages 18-29 say that video of them is accessible on the internet, compared with just 6% of users ages 30-49 and only 2% of those ages 50 and older.

Among users of social networking sites, 18% say that video of them is available online, compared with just 2% of non-users. Nearly one-third (30%) of SNS users ages 18-29 say that video of them is posted on the internet for others to see, compared with about one in ten SNS users who are older than that.

Home broadband users are more than three times as likely as dial-up users to say that video of them is available online (11% vs. 3%). Similarly, those with wireless internet access are more likely than those without to say that video of them can be found online (13% vs. 3%).

Some pieces of information are now less likely than in the past to be reported as available.

While basic pieces of contact information like a home address and telephone number were among the top items reported to be available online in our 2006 survey, they are now surpassed by employer information and photos.

• 26% of internet users say that their home address is available on the internet for others to see, down from 35% who reported this in 2006.
• 21% of internet users say their home phone number is available online, down from 30% in 2006.

A number of items were essentially unchanged since the 2006 survey.

Several pieces of information were just as likely to be reported as available online in 2009 as they were in 2006:

• 31% of internet users say that their email address is available online (compared with 32% who said this in 2006).
• 23% say that things they have written with their name on it are available for others to see online (compared with 24% who reported this in 2006).
• 22% say that information about the groups or organizations they belong to is available online (compared with 23% in 2006).
• 12% say their political party or affiliation is available online for others to see (compared with 11% who reported this in 2006).

Many users express uncertainty about the availability of their information online.

A relatively large segment of the internet user population expressed uncertainty about the availability of various pieces of information online. Email addresses—which are often bought and sold and can be compromised by spammers--still evoke the most tentative responses; 32% of internet users say they don’t know whether or not their email address is available online for others to see.

A slightly smaller segment—about one in five internet users—say they are unsure whether or not their home address, birth date, home phone number or cell phone number are available online for others to find.

When asked about the array of information that may be available about them online, Millennials (young adults ages 18-32) report a much larger digital footprint when compared with older generations.

Looking across the range of items we queried, internet-using Millennials were much more likely than older cohorts to report that at least five pieces of information were available online for others to see. One in three online Millennials (32%) reported this level of information sharing online, compared with 17% of Gen X, 20% of Trailing Boomers and 15% of Leading Boomers. Among the Silent Generation, 12% said at least five of these items were available, while 13% of the G.I. Generation reported the same.

One of the most notable differences is the extent to which images of the youngest generation—whether photos or videos--are shared online. The number of internet-using Millennials who say that photos of them are available online is more than double that of their parents’ generations.

Fully 65% of online adults ages 18-32 say that photos of them are available online for others to see compared with just 30% of Trailing Boomers and 24% of Leading Boomers. The same stark contrast is true of video; 23% of Millennials say that video of them is posted online while just 4% of Trailing Boomers and 2% of Leading Boomers say that videos of them are available for others to see on the internet. Even Generation X lags significantly when compared with the well-documented lives of the Millennials. Less than half (44%) say that photos of them are available, and just 4% say that video of them is online.

Nearly half of online Millennials say that their birth date is available online for others to see.

While including a birth date has become a standard feature on many social networking profiles, this can also be a critical piece of information used by identity thieves. Birth dates are used by many businesses, including credit grantors, as a password to permit account access or establish new accounts. One recent study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that the acquisition of a birth date, particularly when combined with location information for younger users, can be used to successfully predict social security numbers.¹² And another recent study found that young Millennials, ages 18-24, are at the greatest risk for identity theft because it takes them longer to detect that their information has been stolen.¹³

Among internet-using Millennials, 47% say that their birth date is available online for others to see. That compares with 34% of Gen X internet users, 27% of Trailing Boomers and 22% of Leading Boomers who are online. Another 22% of internet users in the Silent Generation and just 14% of internet users in the G.I. Generation say that their birth date is available online.

Looking at Millennials who are social networking users, 57% say that their birth date is available somewhere online for others to see. However, the survey did not ask specifically about the inclusion of birth dates on social networking profiles.

While Millennials are more likely than older generations to say that their cell phone number is available online, they are less likely to say that their home address is posted online.

One in five internet-using Millennials who own a mobile phone (19%) say that their cell phone number is available online for others to see. That compares with about one in ten respondents from each older cohort who reported the same. However, just 18% of online Millennials said that they believed their home address was available online, compared with 31% of Gen Xers, 32% of Trailing Boomers and 28% of Leading Boomers. Among internet users in the Silent Generation, 34% said that their home address was posted online for others to see.

Those who are more visible online are more likely to be contacted by someone from their past.

By several different measures, internet users who are more visible online are more likely to say that they have been contacted by someone from their past who found them through the internet. Overall, 40% of all adult internet users have been contacted online by people from their past, up from just 20% in 2006.

Looking across all of the pieces of information we asked internet users about—from the availability of their email address to information such as their birth date—we created a count variable that allowed us to compare people according to the amount of information they reported as available online for others to see. Internet users who say that a large amount of information is available about them online (those who reported 5-11 items being available) were more likely than every other group to say that they had been contacted by someone from their past who found them through the internet. We looked at four groups according to their varying levels of visibility online:

• 66% of internet users who reported that a lot of information (5-11 items) was available about them online said they had been contacted by someone from their past.
• 53% of internet users who reported that some information (3-4 items) was available about them said they had been contacted by someone from their past.
• 32% of internet users who reported that only a little information (1-2 items) was available about them said they were contacted.
• 15% of those who said none of the items we asked about were available online still said that they were contacted by someone from their past who found them through the internet.

Social media users receive more contact from past connections.

Internet users who maintain profiles on social networking sites are almost four times as likely as non-SNS users to say they have been contacted by someone from their past (67% vs. 18%). Likewise, users of status update services like Twitter are far more likely to be contacted (65% vs. 34%), as are online daters (64% vs. 38%).

Interestingly, online men are more likely than online women to say they have been contacted (43% vs. 38%). And users under the age of 50—particularly young adults ages 18-29—are the most likely to report being contacted by someone from their past:

• 55% of internet users ages 18-29 say they have been contacted, compared with:
• 46% of internet users ages 30-49,
• 25% of internet users ages 50-64, and
• 20% of internet users ages 65 and older.

Looking at age variations among social networking users, the differences for those under age 50 disappear:

• 68% of social networking users ages 18-29 have been contacted by someone from their past, compared with:
• 69% of SNS users ages 30-49, and
• 56% of SNS users ages 50 and older.

While these figures do not establish a causal relationship between social networking site usage and receiving contact from past connections, it is clear that more of this activity is happening among people who maintain profiles on social networking sites than among those who do not.