The Power of Digital Footprints for Nursing Leaders

Why Every Post Matters: Crafting a Professional Identity for Nursing Leaders

• Your digital footprint refers to everything you share, like, comment on, or even silently view. This all creates an online persona that others can interpret and judge (Government of Canada, 2024).

• For nurse leaders, this persona is not just personal; it reflects on your organization and the profession as a whole. As Moorley & Chinn (2016) suggest, social media places nurse leaders in highly visible and accessible roles, offering opportunities for digital leadership through listening, crowdsourcing, and data-informed engagement.

• Strategic online presence can shape public trust, internal morale, and the profession’s image, as described in the notion of rebranding nursing through platforms like LinkedIn, presenting nurses as intellectual leaders, innovators, and agents of change (Babate & Sa'at, 2025). 

  
  

Digital Behavior Shapes the Professional Identity of Nursing Leaders

• Engagement with social media, especially using it for professional purposes, positively bolsters professional identity among nursing students and future leaders (Alharbi et al., 2022).

• However, the boundary between professional and personal use is fragile. Guraya et al. (2021) highlight that unprofessional conduct, such as breaches of confidentiality, cyberbullying, or blurred professional values, is increasingly common, and safeguarding digital professionalism needs more structured curricula and policy safeguards. 

  
  

Teaching Digital Professionalism: A Critical Need for Future Nursing Leaders

• Many healthcare students and professionals struggle to distinguish between their personal and professional roles online. There's growing recognition that formal education can help prevent inappropriate behaviors, and yet evidence shows digital professionalism is still under-taught in nursing curricula (O’Connor et al., 2021).

• A 2024 scoping review revealed that preregistration nursing and midwifery students often lack clarity around professional boundaries and accountability when using social media, signaling a direct need for curricular emphasis on digital professionalism (Gum et al., 2024).

  
  

Visibility as a Leadership Opportunity—And a Responsibility

• Nurse leaders have the unique opportunity to redefine the public’s perception of nursing. Social media allows them to showcase leadership, education, advocacy, and the intellectual dimensions of the profession—challenges outdated stereotypes and promotes a modern, empowered nursing image (Babate & Sa'at, 2025). 

• Moorley & Chinn (2016) emphasized that social media and formal nursing leadership aren't mutually exclusive; instead, they can reinforce each other, enabling leaders to engage on individual and collective levels using listening tools and data-driven strategies.

Summary Table: 

The Dual Nature of Digital Footprints and Helpful Strategies for Personal and Professional Use

Opportunity	Risk / Challenge	Mitigation / Strategy	Examples / Tools
Build a visible, respected professional brand	Blurred lines lead to breaches of professionalism	Separate personal/professional accounts; follow ANA/organizational policies; maintain professional tone	🔹 LinkedIn profile with headshot 🔹 ANA Code of Ethics: https://codeofethics.ana.org/home 🔹 Consistent professional bio 🔹 HIPAA https://www.hipaajournal.com/hipaa-social-media/
Advocate, mentor, and influence broader audiences	Posts can be misinterpreted or misused: permanent record now	Pause before posting; use respectful language; avoid patient identifiers (HIPAA compliance)	🔹 Twitter/X professional hashtags (#NurseTwitter, #MedEd) 🔹 Blog platforms 🔹 ANA Social Media Toolkit: https://www.nursingworld.org/social/
Educate and rebrand the profession	Lack of training and polices may expose vulnerabilities	Provide continuing education on digital professionalism; collaborate with leadership on policy	🔹 Webinars 🔹 Nursing professional development (NPD) courses 🔹 Internal policy manuals 🔹 NCSBN: https://www.ncsbn.org/public-files/NCSBN_SocialMedia.pdf
Connect and mobilize networks and ideas	Inconsistent online behavior undermines credibility	Align posts with professional values; fact-check before sharing; engage in civil discourse	🔹 LinkedIn Groups 🔹 ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/about 🔹 Nursing association forums such as AONL: https://www.aonl.org/AONL-Social-Media-Toolkit-for-Nursing-Leaders

As nurse leaders, our voices carry far beyond the walls of our workplaces. Every post and interaction online reflects not only our individual professionalism but also the integrity of nursing as a whole. By leading with intention, both on and offline, we can use social media to stay connected, strengthen our profession, and create a positive impact for all we serve.

Let us hear from you: Does your institution have a social media policy? What are your thoughts on social media and the nursing profession?

References

Alharbi, M., Kuhn, L., & Morphet, J. (2022). The relationship between social media usage by undergraduate nursing students and development of their professional identity: A correlational study. Nurse education today, 112, 105337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105337

Babate, F. J., & Sa'at, S. F. (2025). The role of social media in rebranding the nursing profession. International nursing review, 72(3), e70073. https://doi.org/10.1111/inr.70073

Government of Canada. (2024). Digital footprint. Retrieved from: https://www.cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/digital-footprint-itsap00133

Gum, L., Brown, A., Royals, R., Matricciani, L., & Kelly, M.A. (2024). Digital professionalism in preregistration nursing and midwifery students: A scoping review to explore perceptions of professionalism when using social media, Nurse Education in Practice, 80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2024.104128

Guraya, S.S., Guraya, S., & Yusoff, M.S.B. (2021). Preserving professional identities, behaviors, and values in digital professionalism using social networking sites: A systematic review. BMC Med Educ 21(381). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-021-02802-9

Moorley, C., & Chinn, T. (2016). Developing nursing leadership in social media. Journal of advanced nursing, 72(3), 514-520.  https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.12870

O’Connor, S., Zhang, M., Honey, M., & Lee, J. J. (2021). Digital professionalism on social media: A narrative review of the medical, nursing, and allied health education literature. International journal of medical informatics, 153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2021.104514