Finding Myself Within Google

I am an avid user of Google, it is a recurring page on my internet and in my mind it can solve any problem. However, I seemed to have found a loophole to this god-like website...it has trouble finding out exactly who I am on the internet. When I initially type in just my name a series of websites come up that seem to contain my name. The obvious Facebook and Twitter accounts appeared, however the first two site links were ones that I have never been to, it took me to a place called Mylife.com. According to that I am from Minnesota, which in reality is not true. Then as I scrolled down I found that my name also renders results on a site called pipl.com where you can search for people and who they are related to--another site I have never visited. All of this is not what I was expecting when I searched my name. It isn't until I got to the second page where I found the items that I recognize, such as my participation in Dance Marathon and when I was mentioned in other blogs.

Just typing in my own name was not yielding the results that I expected, so I tried to be more specific...

When I typed in Brooke Zingler, Tenafly NJ the results became more specific, even finding my name in the roster for a race in 2003. They found my mom and dad's names in certain articles from my town, and articles that just revolved around the town of Tenafly. However there were still results that only appeared to have some connection just to my family. I definitely found more connections to who I am really am when I added more details to my search. I just wish that there was a way to refine the results even further, to eliminate the sites where I specifically am not mentioned--and perhaps there is but I have no knowledge of it.

Another aspect of Google that I find fascinating is that of Google Images. In my first search when I typed in "Brooke Zingler" (quotes included) and clicked on Images I was shocked to find that I was there, in the pictures. Some of my previous Facebook defaults and Twitter pictures, and even a class project that I was photographed for at the University of Maryland were there. It is so surprising that the images were more of a reflection of who I am than the web links. Of course there were pictures that were clearly not me, however that is only to be expected from the infinite world of the World Wide Web.

The internet is where a lot of people live, and it is extremely fascinating to see how that portal reflects those that use it. I know that I am an avid user of the social networking sites that exist, yet if I was to be searched for all that is seen is my past running times and a few charities that I am a member of. The internet is filled with links and pages and profiles--and we need to be conscious of how much information people are able to find.