Every Risk Label in Your Report, Explained

The first time you open a footprint report, the wall of tags is overwhelming. phone, email, address, location, sensitive, identity, all in a mess of reds and oranges and greens. I felt the same way when I saw mine. This post breaks down every label one by one: why it shows up, how risky it is, and what you should do about it.

Here's the short version first. Labels aren't a death sentence. They're a map. Once you know what each one is telling you, you know which corner of the account to clean first.

phone and email: your contact lines

These two are straightforward. The label means a tweet contains something that looks like a mobile number or an email address. The trigger is simple: a string matching an 11-digit phone format, or a standard email pattern.

The risk is high, because contact details are the shortest route a stranger has to reach you. When you see these tags, don't overthink it. Open the original tweet, confirm it's real, delete. One edge case worth knowing: if someone else posted the number and you reposted it, it still counts. Your account's association ties that number to you either way.

address and location: where you are, where you live

address means home-type information: door numbers, neighborhood names, a street plus a city. location is broader. It covers check-in geotags, your office, the places you frequent.

The risk levels differ. address is direct exposure of where you live, close to P0. location is pattern-based, harmless one post at a time, dangerous when fifty of them stack into a movement map. When both appear, the report ranks address above location, which is your ordering hint.

sensitive: conversations that age badly

This is the label that most needs human judgment. It catches politically sensitive remarks, jokes about regions, genders, or ethnic groups, and attack-style comments toward specific communities.

It's not saying you were wrong. It's saying this tweet, ripped out of its original context, travels really well as a screenshot. That late-night rant you aimed at a friend reads like a completely different story when it circulates on its own. Risk is medium-high, and the fix is reading the original and deciding for yourself.

identity: the puzzle pieces

identity is the collection of personal identifiers: your real name, ID photos, birth date, employer, education history. Unlike the other labels, it doesn't trigger on a single match. It fires on combinations, like a tweet that pairs your full name with your company, or a personal email built on your real name.

One data point on its own is limited. Several combined pinpoint you precisely. When this label appears, treat it like P0.

How labels work together

In the wild, one tweet usually carries several labels at once. Take "third day at Acme Corp, here's my badge" which bundles identity, company name plus badge photo, with a possible location tag if the office is geotagged. The report grades the whole tweet by its highest-risk label, so when you sort by tier for cleanup, combined risks don't slip past you.

Label reference table:

Label

Meaning

Trigger

Risk level

Suggested action

phone

Mobile number

11-digit pattern

High (P0)

Verify, then delete

email

Email address

Standard email pattern

High (P0)

Verify, then delete

address

Home address

Door number / neighborhood / street

High (P0)

Delete, don't archive

location

Movement traces

Check-ins / office / frequent spots

Medium-high (P1)

Batch cleanup

sensitive

Sensitive topics

Politics / region / attack comments

Medium-high (P2)

Human judgment

identity

Identity puzzle

Real name + employer / ID / birth date

High (P0)

Check each one