For most, when they enter their name into Google, they would receive common results about people who share the same name. Or even if one was luckily enough to have a unique name, they can find more information about themselves quite easily. As for myself, the search wasn't so easy. Typing in "Jason Do" into Google yields over a hundred million results, but perhaps only a few pertain to me. Why is this so? Perhaps its a combination of having a common name, and a last name that mimics a common English verb, "to do." All the initial searches come up with a common phrase such as "What would Jason do?" Used for titles of TV shows or a parody on the horror star, Jason Voorhees. In the end, you would find that trying to Google my name to find information about me is almost an impossible endeavor.
Looking at the positive aspects of being googlable, by searching one's name, everything that they have been involved with can be made public, such as, someone's achievements, or involvement in clubs or organizations. One can also be easily accessible to those that have lost touch. Long lost friends can be able to find each other at the simple search of a name, promoting the strengthening of someone's social network. Yet, at the same time, being easily accessible is a personal security risk, since by finding someone, all their information is out in the open. If one was able to find out a lot of personal information by googling a name, there are a lot of problems that could arise, such as financial fraud, kidnapping, etc.
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I found it extremely entertaining that your name of "Do" returned the results that it did. For most other students when they Google their name, results only appear, typically, people that have the same last name. Your name however produced results using it in a context other than just as a name. You also bring up a good point that I forgot to touch upon, which is reconnecting with old friends. I know that I have personally used Facebook to reconnect with old friends on many occasions, but perhaps Googling them could be a fine alternative when one would be unable to find someone on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteOut of all the blog posts I have read, I definitely think yours is the funniest. Excellent reasoning for why your name came up with millions of results. Your story brings out the limitations of the Google Search. I too love your creative point that being Googable enables other lost friends to find us or vice versa. Great Job!
ReplyDeleteI also sound it funny that your name brought up many more results because of the nature of "Do." It points out that google is not in fact God. It is not all knowing, for it cannot distinguish names from sentence fragments. Furthermore, I agree with the cons of googleability that you listed in the last paragraph, and in my opinion, they outweigh the pros. For example, if a long lost friend were trying to get back in touch with you, there would most likely be some other means of doing so. Since they were once in touch with you, they should be able to utilize other resources such as phonebooks, alumni databases, and other friends and colleagues.
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