Etta James did not understand the power of the Internet, blogs and youtube.  She had no idea that her comments would spread across the world in just a matter of hours if not minutes.  When Etta James was in her prime, it was a totally different world.  There was no Internet, no cell phones with cameras, video and voice recorders.  You Tube did not exist. 

Etta’s comments went viral and a multiplicity of bad press ensued.  None of this does Etta James any good.  Let’s face it, before the movie Cadillac was released, most of us thought Etta James was dead.  Now a career that could have been resurrected is probably dead for real.

Kathy Hendershot-Hurd wrote an article about our digital footprints. 

Contrast that with today when anyone with access to the internet can be granted an unprecedented level of omniscience – at least when it comes to observing digital interactions.  Online we’re constantly being judged by what we write! The blog posts I write, the comments I leave on other blogs not to mention the information contained in various online profiles are available for ALL to see.  Combined, those interactions are creating a digital footprint that can’t be easily erased or altered.

Internet access + basic computer skills = a level of  omniscience previously unknown to mankind!

In this case, Etta James did not write the article or comment on someone’s blog.  She made a statement, just a few sentences that bloggers and the media ran with.  We created a digital footprint for her.  Like it or not, she now has a digital footprint that will forever exist in cyber space.