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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

Posted on 04/18/2004 9:58:32 AM PDT by 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


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


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: google; googleimagesearch; googlesearch; name; screenname
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To: hellinahandcart; Hillary's Lovely Legs
"bag in your thong".

Hey! That's an old T-Rex song!

Get it on
Bag in your thong
Get it on!

161 posted on 04/18/2004 6:04:00 PM PDT by uglybiker (Too much horsepower is just enough. -- Carrol Shelby)
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To: NYC GOP Chick
OMG. LOL.
162 posted on 04/18/2004 7:04:46 PM PDT by katz ( Rush is Right)
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To: NYC GOP Chick
Check out my image search on google

It has among other things, Art Bell

163 posted on 04/18/2004 7:09:14 PM PDT by NeoCaveman (Politics: poli means many, and tics are blood sucking creatures)
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To: katz
Suddenly yours doesn't seem quite so bad now, does it?
164 posted on 04/18/2004 7:12:06 PM PDT by NYC GOP Chick ("If I could shoot like that, I would still be in the NBA" -- Bill Clinton, circa 1995)
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To: dubyaismypresident
Yes, strange indeed! But at least a picture of the Hildebeast didn't turn up as the VERY FIRST one on your vanity search! I mean, I know I'm short and blonde, but I like to think I don't look *that* bad!
165 posted on 04/18/2004 7:13:14 PM PDT by NYC GOP Chick ("If I could shoot like that, I would still be in the NBA" -- Bill Clinton, circa 1995)
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To: MeekOneGOP
I get a bunch of bicycles
166 posted on 04/18/2004 7:15:12 PM PDT by HighWheeler (Difference between a democRAT and a battery: At least a battery has a positive side.)
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To: NYC GOP Chick
You in no way resemble the Hildebeast.
167 posted on 04/18/2004 7:15:50 PM PDT by NeoCaveman (Politics: poli means many, and tics are blood sucking creatures)
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To: MeekOneGOP
"Ciexyz" pulls up a host of color image pixels. Apparently my screen name refers to color engineering. Someone once asked me if I was a color engineer. (Nope.)
168 posted on 04/18/2004 7:15:55 PM PDT by Ciexyz
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To: NYC GOP Chick
Mine are darned obvious.
169 posted on 04/18/2004 7:16:15 PM PDT by lavrenti (I'm not bad, just misunderstood.)
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To: dubyaismypresident
You in no way resemble the Hildebeast.

THANK YOU!!! :D

170 posted on 04/18/2004 7:17:37 PM PDT by NYC GOP Chick ("If I could shoot like that, I would still be in the NBA" -- Bill Clinton, circa 1995)
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To: lavrenti
Well, yes, they are!
171 posted on 04/18/2004 7:19:04 PM PDT by NYC GOP Chick ("If I could shoot like that, I would still be in the NBA" -- Bill Clinton, circa 1995)
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To: NYC GOP Chick
The clown photo was most disturbing to me.
172 posted on 04/18/2004 7:19:57 PM PDT by lavrenti (I'm not bad, just misunderstood.)
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To: NYC GOP Chick
Is that you in the Lady Liberty get-up?

173 posted on 04/18/2004 7:20:43 PM PDT by HighWheeler (Difference between a democRAT and a battery: At least a battery has a positive side.)
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To: lavrenti
Clowns never bothered me until I read "It." Now, they kinda scare me.
174 posted on 04/18/2004 7:21:28 PM PDT by NYC GOP Chick ("If I could shoot like that, I would still be in the NBA" -- Bill Clinton, circa 1995)
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To: HighWheeler
Nope. That woman is here ever year around the 4th of July, and I managed to get a picture of her mid-belch one year. :)
175 posted on 04/18/2004 7:22:22 PM PDT by NYC GOP Chick ("If I could shoot like that, I would still be in the NBA" -- Bill Clinton, circa 1995)
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To: NYC GOP Chick
That book bothered me, too. King's short stories I like better, though.

That particular clown photo was rather creepy, enhanced by the array of Lavrenti Beria photos surrounding it.
176 posted on 04/18/2004 7:27:07 PM PDT by lavrenti (I'm not bad, just misunderstood.)
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To: MeekOneGOP
No images here(very uncommon last name), but I found a few old letters to the editor I've written. I did find something interesting here. Someone with my name was found here.

http://www.hotkey.net.au/~jwilliams4/cons5.htm

1842,Convict Absconders
Tasmania

The following list is for those convicts whose names were published in the Hobart Gazette as having absconded from their employers or places of employment. Some of the convicts had not actually absconded and were amended on a following list. These lists were regularly published in newspapers in Tasmania with Government approval.

177 posted on 04/18/2004 7:30:47 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan ("...and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take...OUR FREEDOM")
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To: lavrenti
That particular clown photo was rather creepy, enhanced by the array of Lavrenti Beria photos surrounding it.

Sure, but not *nearly* as creepy as the first pic showing up on your self-search being that of the Hildebeast!

178 posted on 04/18/2004 7:33:21 PM PDT by NYC GOP Chick ("If I could shoot like that, I would still be in the NBA" -- Bill Clinton, circa 1995)
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To: MeekOneGOP; ntnychik; devolve; PhilDragoo
That was fun! Under my real name, I found out that I've done many wonderful things of which I was totally unaware!!
179 posted on 04/18/2004 7:39:42 PM PDT by potlatch ( Medals do not make a man. Morals do.)
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To: MeekOneGOP; RonDog; Angelwood; kristinn; Bob J
I put in 'Flip-Flop Kerry' and I got oodles of googles:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=flip+flop+kerry&btnG=Google+Search
180 posted on 04/18/2004 7:40:55 PM PDT by JulieRNR21 (One good term deserves another! Take W-04....Across America!)
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