Monday, October 27, 2014

When Someone Searches for Me

When someone searches for me on the internet, the website they use to do so matters. As we have learned in class, different websites' algorithms will yield different results. I explored various popular internet search tools and found my results interesting. First of all, according to Google, I have a Pinterest. Let me tell you, Google is wrong. After searching my name in a few different formats, I found mostly other people that share my name. The exception would be that my LinkedIn picture appears on a Google images search. In terms of social networking analysis, I couldn't find my Twitter because I use an alias, and  I could only see my profile picture on Facebook because the account is private. Tracking backwards through some of my searches, the reverse phone number search tool on the White Pages website gave virtually no information about myself- I was a little disappointed, but still thoroughly reassured that no one is stalking me. I hope. Another search function I used that I think is worth mentioning is Google Maps. By knowing someone's address, it is possible to see a picture of its view from the street. Similarly, Zillow.com allows anybody to look up the last time any house or address was in a transaction, and the purchase price is shown. I think this relates to the first few searches that Greg had us complete, but it is an even more numerical socio-economic indicator located online. Regardless, I think my online persona, or presence, is probably relatively mild as compared to other people my age.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I strongly agree on your little disappoinment on the results after researching about yourself, because i think I am not really opened to the public compared to other people in my age.