Take a look at your image in the Internet mirror; Google Search your name, FR screen name

The Dallas Morning News ^ | April 16, 2004 | By TOM MAURSTAD / The Dallas Morning News

[MeekOneGOP]

Take a look at your image in the Internet mirror

07:42 PM CDT on Friday, April 16, 2004

By TOM MAURSTAD / The Dallas Morning News

Have you ever googled yourself, maybe late at night, when nobody else was around? It's OK, you can admit it – everybody does it.

It's called "self-googling" – entering your name into the popular search engine to see what hits come up. And thanks to a communications professor at the University of Buffalo who researches online behavior and relationships, self-googling has become the latest mini-craze to sweep through the media and over the Internet.

It all started with an article in the university's student newspaper on April 8 in which Alexander Halavais, the aforementioned communications professor, asserted that "self-googling" wasn't merely an act of vanity or boredom but really an increasingly important act of image maintenance in our Internet age.

In the days since, follow-up articles and accounts have been pinging around the electronic universe. See for yourself: Google the phrase "self-googling."

"It's been a strange kind of fun to be at the center of this," says Mr. Halavais. "One, because this behavior is nothing new; it's known on the Web as 'ego surfing.' And, two, because this is not really the focus of my research."

Whatever you want to call it, checking out who you are and what's being said about you on the Internet is rapidly becoming a common-sense practice in a wired world. Think of it as the digital equivalent of looking at your reflection as you pass by a mirror, checking to make sure your hair is unmussed and there's nothing stuck between your teeth.

"It's truer for some than others, but more and more you need to be aware of and manage your online image and reputation. I talk to a lot of students who are applying for jobs, and they take for granted that a Web search is part of the process."

So, go ahead. Google yourself. Who knows what you'll find out?

Of course, Alexander Halavais knows exactly what he's going to find next time he gets the urge to self-google.

"That's it, I'm branded. From now on, I'm the self-google guy."

E-mail tmaurstad@dallasnews.com

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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/041704dnartselfgoogle.310f4.html

[lowbridge]

You didn't get a Looneytunes pic?

No, darn it. :-)

[Senator Pardek]

Not a very flattering photo of Pardek.

[SkyPilot]

Wow---where has this one been hiding? Sure to become a FR classic.

[OutSpot]

Ahh would have been so useful for the Clintons!!!

Stain and Odor Remover

[OldFriend]

Goodness......there I was the very first listing.........woooooeeeeeeeee..........

[EagleMamaMT]

Read later.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Yeah - I get a boatload of hits.

But then again, I use my name as my FR ID, which is unusual.

The FR article (many thanks all who helped so much, including Okie and many others) on FL election fraud adds a bunch as well.

[rwfromkansas]

Yeah, I noticed that one as well. I apparently made fun of one of the posters there who couldn't spell anonymity.

[Robert A Cook PE]

OK - So you're a golf pro with experience south of the equator.....

Is it true that hookers slice and slicers hook "down under" since the Coriolis effect is reversed? 8<)

[MeekOneGOP]

Yeah, I thought that one was good too.

I have to use my old 'MeeknMing' screen name and I get a lot of images come up. Some that come up are where someone posts an image to my screen name and that is what drives it through Google. Some go to my Profile Page.

One Freeper suggested earlier to also try 'FreeRepublic' after the screen name helps.

[Xenalyte]

It's called "self-googling" – entering your name into the popular search engine to see what hits come up.

Actually, no, it's called a vanity search.

"Google" in this instance might be copyrighted, and is definitely a proper name, so if we were to commit the abomination toward which the writer encourages us, I would have to write it "self-Googling," with a capital G.

[Xenalyte]

I put in my real name, in quotation marks, and got three pictures, all of me.

[MeekOneGOP]

;^(

[Xenalyte]

You are one sexy beotch.

[uglybiker]

I have the same last name as a certain movie star.

Q. What's worse than not winning the lottery?

A. Having the same name as the person who did.

[Condor51]

Hmmm, this can't be right?!?
I did a Google Image search for Teresa Heinz and got THIS

Then again... it could be her when she was younger.

[humblegunner]

I tried it both ways and all I get is a bunch of stuff about guns
and militias and some declassified FBI files.

ooops....

[MeekOneGOP]

hahaha ! I like the Blues Brothers one !

[MeekOneGOP]

LOL !

[tapatio]