So I Googled Myself...
Immortality, huh? Everybody wants to live forever—as long as the going is good.
But be careful what you wish for. Although we are still looking for the elixir of physical longevity, it’s already becoming all too easy for your thoughts to find their way to the ether, where they float around—maybe forever—waiting to be retrieved by those who select the proper combination of search terms.
And what if you leave a terrible legacy? Or are branded as wicked due to a typo or a poorly indexed file that links to something awful.
And, what are they saying about me?
So I took the plunge. I Googled myself.
I never really cared before, but I was reading The Search, by John Battelle, and he noted that an estimated 40% of people have done what he terms a “vanity search,” (Battelle, 2005, p. 29). And since I’m a fan of siding with the underdog, I typed in my own name and joined this community of the vain minority.
Here is what I found:
I am the first hit.
Nice. Good start. The site is actually: http://www.bsu.edu/webapps2/directory/people/detail.asp?person_id=23778&person_type=facstaff, so I am assuming this is BSU’s power to achieve indexing that I could never achieve on my own. Doesn’t matter though, does it? I show up before all the other Jared Linders, which means I’ve got a greater chance of hocking my specific wares or spreading my general flavor to the masses. Don’t kid yourself, this is powerful stuff.
Next, and listed as the second hit, is me again. And once again, I owe the credit to BSU. This time, I’m baffled. This link is an archive of a class discussion I participated in back in 1997: http://www.bsu.edu/classes/newbold/210/ic219.html. Wow, I had no idea. I’ve since dug further into that series of discussions, and found more nuggets, such as my analysis of Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. I never guessed these conversations would be compiled in this manner and would still appear today. Hopefully my grade in that class will remain unsearchable.
This is proof that some people are keeping everything as records for the ages, even if you aren’t: just because you clean off your desk and go home at night, doesn’t mean you weren’t there all day.
Third on the list, and about the sixth site overall, is a notification page from the Project Management Institute (PMI) and the PMI Central Indiana Chapter, showing where I achieved Project Management Professional (PMP) certification: http://www.pmicic.org/certification/new_pmps.php.
Since it shows I achieved certification on June 26, 2006, and then shows two individuals whom I used to work for achieving certification themselves on the next day (as in after me), this is a piece of history I am ok with. And, yet again, not something I have control over. Somebody else thought you should know this fact about me.
The CICS World page shows up about page 4 of my search. Finally, the search has located me as represented in my own words. Or at least in words that I willingly and knowingly posted myself.
But, other than that, I don’t really seem to exist online. I dug through about 20 pages, and just got tired of trying to find myself. So much for my immortality achieved through the ether. Looks like I’ll have to go earn it the old fashioned way. There’s probably a place for my frozen head somewhere near Ted Williams and Walt Disney.
Of note, if you choose to perform a search of this nature, be forewarned: there is a wealth of other interesting information out there about people who are running around performing deeds you’ve never heard of, in places you’ve never been to, all the while using your name. Creepy thought really.
But, even creepier, do you think they’ve Googled themselves, and read all the stories about you?