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

[grimalkin]

I get my company's website, geneology stuff, and sites about Maine/New Brunswick. Oh yes, and race car driving. I share the same last name as a well-known driver.

[rwfromkansas]

Yikes. I searched for my Freeper name and found myself quoted (even singled out for my comments) on other websites.

Somebody called me an "18-year old Calvinist idiot."

Now, the post in question he was referring to (he made an entire thread about it on a different forum!!) I do believe was stupid now. I overreacted to the whitehouse.org site and quite frankly, some of the stuff there is funny.

But it is amazing when you find yourself all over the web. I had 3 pages of results, and around a page was me being quoted off of FR....

[cyborg]

*LOL* Welcome to the Spinal Tap Bum Cakes Club

[lentulusgracchus]

What is that logogram -- the one in the blue square? What does it represent?

[cyborg]

Wow I found a book I did in Amazon and two posts about debating orthodoxy and messianic judaism. Wow *lol* and I googled cyborg565a and found even more stuff! LOL

[uglybiker]

I found this and immediately thought of you. ;-)

[Bob]

I was named after a certain famous musician. Googling my name is an exercise in futility. I like that.

The same goes for sharing a name with a former Georgia congressman. :=)

[headsonpikes]

YIIIKES!!!

Thanks for the Google Image Search. ;^)

[cyborg]

Robotic Electronic Neohuman Engineered for Exploration

***lol... thanks for the link!

[MeekOneGOP]

Your Freeper Profile page is THIRD on that search.

And when I clicked on 'Image' there the Google Image Search finds this:

[MattAMiller]

I think I need some of that image managment the prof was talking about.

Allow me to put that out of everybody's minds with this

And this

[John Jorsett]

Interesting. By searching on your screen name, I came across the FreeRepublicSucks website. I'd never heard of it before. Looks like they gave up their crusade, since the last "issue" is June 2003.

[SkyPilot]

It is either a transmitter or a Borg device.

[AmishDude]

OK, here's something sad: I did this on my screenname and found out that I was on RJayneJ's Free Republic Highlights.

Of course, RJayneJ just passed away, and I didn't even know of this honor.

I was always jealous of those who got chosen.

[SkyPilot]

Nice outfit.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

with the image search i get these !

Democrat Beliefs

Keywords: TORCH HAS BEEN PASSED
Source:  Published: ? Author: NFRA -------;:'@ THANX ANTIVENOM
Posted by ATOMIC_PUNK

That every government program is essential and under-funded;

That the failure of any government program is proof it needs more funding;

That Bill Gates symbolizes what is wrong with America;

That only a risky Republican scheme would propose changes for high schools that graduate students who can't read their diplomas;

That the Ten Commandments are judgmental and, consequently, dangerous for our children to learn in school;

That big companies, which succeed in a free market by routinely offering the best product or service at the lowest price, shouldn't be trusted, and that big government, which can confiscate and redistribute its citizen's wealth and imprison them if they don't cooperate, should;

That I prove my compassion and generosity when I support tax increases on anyone who is richer than I;

That Bill Clinton was correct when he vetoed welfare reform, correct when he vetoed it again and correct when he proudly signed it into law;

That we support more gun laws and fewer convictions;

That the failure of 22,000 gun laws to prevent gun violence is proof that more gun laws are needed;

That the problem of gun violence will be solved as soon as law-abiding citizens are forced to disarm;

That, for every Clinton scandal, Republicans were guilty of "rushing to judgment" prior to proving wrongdoing and guilty of " dredging up old news " after proof was established;

That the Communist Chinese expected nothing in return for their contributions to the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign;

That Republicans are evil, except Republican union members whose wages are confiscated for the purpose of funding Democratic campaigns;

That Bob Jones is a religious bigot with dangerous ideas when his faith dictates white Christians should marry only white Christians, but that Joe Lieberman is a good man with deeply held religious principles when his faith dictates orthodox Jews should marry only orthodox Jews;

That a thousand FBI files on prominent Republicans arrived at the White House as a result of an innocent bureaucratic SNAFU under the watch of a former bar bouncer who became head of White House security, and no one knows who hired him;

That Joe Camel brainwashed kids into smoking cigarettes, but that Hollywood's sex and violence do not influence them;

That media reports on the homeless are newsworthy unless a Democrat is in the White House;

That the timing of the American bombing of a Sudanese pharmaceutical plant on the day of Monica Lewinsky's testimony was purely coincidental;

That everyone deserves equal rights, except white males;

That we should march in favor of partial birth abortions and against the execution of child murderers;

That we support the Constitution's unwritten right to privacy but not its written right to bear arms;

That taxpayer dollars should never fund religious art except for art that denigrates Christianity;

That Al Gore invented the Internet and Hillary Clinton is a brilliant cattle futures speculator;

That minorities deserve high positions in government except when they are conservative;

That Bill Clinton has never forced himself upon a woman unless there is DNA evidence to prove it;

That we don't need to worry about records being set for the trade deficit, personal bankruptcies, and minorities in prison until a Republican is in the White House;

That thou shalt not judge, unless it is for the purpose of exposing conservative white males as angry, gun-toting rednecks and conservative blacks as back-stabbing charlatans;

That the administration created our nation's economic prosperity even if we can't name the Clinton-Gore proposals that caused it;

That Al Gore discovered Love Canal and was the hero of " Love Story ";

That we have no reason to suspect espionage occurred when hard drives containing our most valuable nuclear secrets were missing from the Los Alamos laboratory;

That, in the spirit of inclusion, our armed forces should welcome gay soldiers into their shower stalls;

That we should be outraged by the partial birth abortion of any animal except a human;

That Clarence Thomas is unfit for office but Bill Clinton is not;

That if our children aren't taught sex in school, they'll never find out about it;

That anyone who supports school vouchers, the strategic defense initiative, parental notification for abortion and privatization of social security is a right-wing kook, unless his name is Joe Lieberman;

That George W. Bush's degrees from Harvard and Yale do not change the fact that he is an idiot, but Al Gore's failing out of Vanderbilt is no reflection on his mentality;

And so, let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of donkeys.  Posted by ATOMIC_PUNK

[cyborg]

Always keeping abreast of what FR men like.

[SkyPilot]

ROTFL!

It looks like his cat needs therapy after having to live with that dude.

[katz]

and the first image for my screen name got me "The History of Homosexuality" from Columbia edu. I don't like this game.

[MeekOneGOP]

hahaha ! I bet.

Some of these things that folks are posting are hilarious.

Check 'em out if ya get a chance.