Just Delete Me Helps Internet Users Cover Their Tracks

Just Delete Me is out to prove that, on the internet, not everything is forever.

The website promises users the opportunity to delete their social media and website accounts without all the frustration and red tape that comes with it. The site has now become a hit, and this week one of the hottest search topics on the internet.

The site is the brainchild of a British developer named Robb Lewis, who came up with the idea for Just Delete Me after he made a futile effort to delete his Skype account. Lewis figured that if he, a developer, was having so much trouble opting out of his account, others must be going through the same thing.

So Lewis made Just Delete Me as simple as possible. All users have to do is find the service account they want to delete, click on the service’s name and follow the directions.

Just Delete Me also gives users an idea what they’ll be in for trying to get rid of their old accounts. The site color-codes the different servers, showing with green which ones are simple, yellow for the moderate ones, red for hard, and black for impossible (for a heads up, some of the impossible ones include Netflix, GoDaddy, Craigslist, and Wikipedia).

The site works for more than 250 sites and services, including Amazon, Digg, Etsy, iTunes, and Vine.

In an era where Google has become the best friend of job interviewers, experts say it is in internet users’ advantage to control what they put out.

“We have two personas out there: personal and professional. Social merges these,” said Gianna Scorsone, chief of staff at IT recruiting firm Mondo. “I don’t think anyone could have predicted that all these photos and comments would be out there for everyone to see. There are a lot of uncomfortable pieces in people’s lives that they wouldn’t choose to show their employers or coworkers.”

That is where Just Delete Me comes in.