I remember speaking to the graduating class of medical students at Baylor College of Medicine. After a rousing group discussion over a number of interesting social media dilemmas, one budding orthopod chimed in that he was opting out of a public presence. He was going to stay quietly below the Google radar, he reassured me in front of his classmates.

It was one of those teaching moments that can never be planned.

Here’s what I asked him and the graduating class to remember about doctors and their online presence:

• You cant opt out of an online presence.
• You have zero % control over what people say about you.
• You have 100% control over what you create about yourself.

And like it or not, Google will always deliver a first page about you. You can control it or leave it to someone else.

I think he got the point.

Pro tip: If you want to learn more about digital footprint and online reputation check out the Digital Footprint tag. Every post here on 33c has tags at the bottom of each post that pull you to other related content that you might enjoy. I keep them small so it doesn’t look obnoxious. But use them. I think you’ll like them.