By The Way...

Monday, December 17, 2007
4:45:00 PM EST
Hearing Silent Night -- Tuck Andress
Apparently more people are Googling themselves than ever!

In a report Sunday, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said 47 percent of U.S. adult Internet users have looked for information about themselves through Google or another search engine.

That is more than twice the 22 percent of users who did in 2002, but Pew senior research specialist Mary Madden was surprised the growth wasn't higher.

"Yes it's doubled, but it's still the case that there's a big chunk of Internet users who have never done this simple act of plugging their name with search engines," she said. "Certainly awareness has increased, but I don't know it's necessarily kept pace with the amount of content we post about ourselves or what others post about us."

Silly humans! Anyone knows that Googling yourself is not nearly enough! I myself have a matrix of 11 separate search engines searching my name and links back to my blogs and Web sites, which I check about once an hour while I am online! No, really, I do. It's how I know pretty much everything people say about me online. Sometimes I'll see it within a minute of it going up. And if I respond in a comment, it really freaks the heck out of folks. So I try to be careful of scaring them too much.

Have you Googled yourself, or otherwise searched out your name in a search engine?



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This entry has 7 comments: (Add your own)

• #7 Comment from fisherkristina 
  12/17/07 10:08 PM | Permalink

  Yes.
  
  Krissy
  http://journals.aol.com/fisherkristina/SometimesIThink
• #6 Comment from mavarin 
  12/17/07 8:22 PM | Permalink

  As a matter of fact I thought of you today when I read this article in a print newspaper at Arby's. I notice that the actual survey period was a year ago, unless the local paper got it wrong. So the percentage could easily have gone up by now.
  
  I seldom Google "Karen Blocher" or "Karen Funk Blocher", but I Google the word "Mavarin" on a daily basis, usually with some other word, looking for something I posted myself. Branding can be handy!  But I suppose it doesn't accomplish quite the same thing. All I know is that "Googlism" has never heard of me as of a couple weeks  ago, whereas it's got lots to say about YOU!
  
  K.
• #5 Comment from geekygirl602 
  12/17/07 7:52 PM | Permalink

  Of course!  I have to check at least once a day.   I check to see what's new regarding my stuff.  (stuff's a legal term)  In public life, you need to.  I once found an article that I supposedly was interviewed for but I did not do the interview.  Plus, I am always misquoted.  Grrr...  So, I check quite often.  It's call CYA.
• #4 Comment from swmpgrly 
  12/17/07 5:50 PM | Permalink

  I just tried it.
  I find there alot of people with my name...lol
• #3 Comment from hewhocodes 
  12/17/07 5:17 PM | Permalink

  I did long before Google even existed!  It used to be that every hit for my own name was so reference to me.  It has been fascinating to observe the trend of hits over the years.

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