There are many advantages as well as risks involved in being searchable on Google. It is very practical as well as necessary as a business person to be able to promote yourself on Google. Businesses can't grow unless they are exposed to the world. This idea will become more and more important as we graduate college and have real jobs. Some risks are also very important. People with bad intentions can easily find where you live and a million other ways to quickly reach you. Google will tell you in less than a second who is in your family and what your job is. All of this information in the wrong hands could be extremely detrimental.
Friday, November 6, 2009
How Googleable Are You?
Upon entering my name into the google search, I found more articles on myself than I expected. Most of the subjects revolved around my involvement in the performing arts. The first thing that came up was my Facebook page, complete with pictures of myself in the images portion of Google. From my Google search someone could find out my name, what I look like, who my friends are, where I live, and what shows I have been involved in. At first I thought all of the articles were exciting and I was proud to have them all on display. However after thinking about it for a while I realized how scary it is that all of this information is available to just anyone that stumbles upon it. I am a musical theatre major, so inevitably part of my job in life will be promoting myself as an actor. Because of this it is important to network and have my work and reviews readily on display. But I would like to be slightly less googleable. I don't mind having my work online, but having my personal information on display is another story.
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I agree with you that having personal information online is definitely a risk. There are many stalkers out there that use this information as a negative opportunity. It is interesting that you say businesses can promote themselves on google. This makes me think of the days when the Internet did not exist. It must have been much tougher to start a business, gain support and make money.
ReplyDeleteYou're right in that if you need to put yourself out there for that type of field, having your information readily available is extremely helpful. However, not everyone should be able to have access to all of that information just by doing a Google search. There should be a clever way of sharing information publicly but only to people who need access to it. But, that method must be easy to do. For example, you should not have to create accounts for some online service, then become "friends" with that other person, and go through all of that hassle just to share a resume.
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