Interesting statistics about people googling themselves >> Scott Klarr

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Interesting statistics about people googling themselves

Posted By Scott Klarr on Dec 16, 2007 at 5:32 pm

Study: Googling Oneself Is More Popular

More Americans are Googling themselves and many are checking out their friends, co-workers and romantic interests, too.

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.

View full study report

I have personally used google on numerous occasions to lookup information both on myself and others. I am constantly reminded of the internet's permanence when it comes to content archiving and indexing. In fact I can find information I posted online over 7 years ago with ease!

I think a lot of people do not realize search engines' potential to expose their online behaviors. The internet, unfortunately, is a place where otherwise decent people feel that because they are behind a screen, they can act in any manner they want (an example, look at some youtube video comments) without realizing that google is going to remember it for quite a while, well, probably forever.

I bet that in the future, if not already, employers will use the power of the internet search engines to lookup and expose information about people applying for jobs to get a closer look at who they really are, beyond the fancy, thought-out resume. So next time you are about to post up something on the internet that you wouldn't say in front of your own mother, just think of how it might affect you if someone looks you up in the future, rather it be a career opportunity, personal relationship opportunity, or some other situation where you are trying to make a good impression.