I'm Indian, and being Indian comes with its perks. For example, we are already naturally tanned. We also quite possible invented the most delicious food there is on the planet. However, with perks comes disadvantages- about 1 billion of them. What I'm talking about is the shear number of Indian there are in the world. What this means for me is that, there is probably about really good chance that when I search my name on Google.com, the first, second, 10th, or 30th result will not be me. Typing my name (in quotes) into Google's search engine produces 64,500 results, and of those results, it takes me about 4 pages to reach my Twitter account. However, I know that the Michigan Daily has an article about me out there, and after about 5 minutes of clicking 'Next', Google still did not show my 5 minutes of fame in the Daily. I'm just not that Googleable. The famous Indian Bollywood actor which the same name as me understandably steals my luster. I'm slightly disappointed because if someone where to Google my name, I'd appreciate some of the spotlight. I'd like the world to know that I was Mr. Engineer 2008 (my Daily article), it took a lot of work to prepare. Bollywood hunk Karan Patel did nothing to deserve the spotlight, except being born a stud.
Now that I think about it, do I really want to be 'THAT' famous? I mean, if I were, there would be thousands of pictures of me littering the internet. They would range from my photo shoots to me taking a dip into the ocean; mabye even some paparazzi shots of me nude in my room- I wouldn't want that! My privacy would turn into publicy. However, lets say when my name was Googled, and not many Karan Patel's existed in the world, the first few pages were filled with links related to me. My Facebook profile would be accessible, and potential employers would access my profile and view incriminating photos of my at a house party or at the bar. If someone were trying to find something to bring my reputation down, they'd probably be successful. Thinking about the advantages is hard because even if there were something to brag about online, such as a new article about you on CNN.com, you'd have to assume someone would care enough to Google your name- not many people I know have that time or care enough. As one can see, appearing in the search results of Google is a disadvantage because it invades into a persons privacy, allowing people to possibly ruin a their reputation.
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ReplyDeleteI must say that being a famous engineer online would not be as bad as you think. Look at Steve Jobs for example. Hes googleable but the paparazzi hasn't posted nude photos of him to the internet...please don't prove me wrong because I really don't want to see that....ANYWAY My view on being googleable comes down to this. There are ALOT of people on the internet, and only a few notable cases of a ruined reputation. The odds are simply that you will not be destroyed for being one of the top results for your name. If you also just take care of your image you should have nothing to worry about in terms of your reputation.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Patrick's opinion. Facebook and Myspace have so much excess cache you have to be careful. Let's say someone hacks your account and decides to put obscene statuses or damaging information. That information may be deleted by you the next day; however, it is technically still online. The cache normally isn't deleted for months, if not years. Security is a major problem and you may not ruin a huge public reputation, but you could ruin a reputation with your friends.
ReplyDeleteHaha, I love how you wrote this post. It was humorous and well written. However, I have to point out that when you say someone can find pictures of you at a house party or the bar you immediately put it into a bad category. It's not wrong to attend a house party or go to a bar if you're of age (being 18 on some nights) especially if you're only there to enjoy a sober night with some friends. I can understand if you think the pictures could contain other objects that could be damaging to your reputation, however that's something you must watch out for when a picture of you is being taken. It truly is a sense of responsibility one must take when having a site such as a Facebook or a MySpace.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the dangers of being on google. There are many things that you might put online to share with family or friends that you may not want others to be able to access. I also agree that being famous enough to have many search results on google could be a bad thing, especially having information or pictures that are private.
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