Defining One's Identity Online
June 2, 2005
So, I'm in the New York Times today, as part of the story called Loosing Google's Lock on the Past. I'm not a huge fan of how the story turned out, mostly because my quotes are almost incoherent. What I was trying to say is that the expectation for a lot of people is that, when they meet a new person, they'll be able to Google them up and find out all about them, just like you would do if you were researching a company.
And, if you know people are going to be looking you up, then you should have a place (like, say, a blog) that is a definitive source of information about yourself, instead of leaving it to chance. This is something I wrote about in Privacy Through Identity Control a few years ago.
Of course, the hook for the story is that the writer didn't like the picture of herself that came up if you searched for her name. Fortunately for me, the picture of me that accompanies the story will offer plenty of amusement for anybody who's familiar with Internet culture. (All those links are work-safe, but the things linked on those pages most definitely are not.)
Jim Wilson, who took the picture, was a really nice guy, and Stepanie Rosenbloom, who wrote the story, was really professional, so I was a bit reluctant to throw in an easter egg for all my web friends. But now that there's a giant picture in the Times, I'm finding it pretty entertaining.
Update: This post (and picture) got a pretty strong response -- a year later I described some of the reactions that it inspired.
9:02 AM
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8 TrackBacks
Anil Dash: "What I was trying to say is that the expectation for a lot of people is that, when they meet a new person, they'll be able to Google them up and find out all about them, just like... Read More
En het is niet eens maandag. ... Read More
AT&T Natural Voices Text-to-Speech sample audio files Coming soon to a Macintosh near you. (tags: mac software texttospeech audio) Harlan McCraney, Presidentail Speechwriter And another piece of the puzzle falls into place. (tags: comedy comedycentral... Read More
Anil Dash wrote an interesting post about defining your online identity after he snuck a goatse shirt into his picture in the NY Times. I have been managing my identity in search engines for years. At different stages of my life I had managed differ Read More
Anil goatse’d the NY Times! (SFW) That is freaking hilarious. If you want a closer look at the tshirt, check Threadless. If you don’t know who Anil is or what a goatse is get with the program people. ... Read More
My mom is forever insisting that my blogging activities are going to inevitably get me into all kinds of trouble and ruin many potential career paths. In today’s internet age it seems that everything you do leaves behind web footprints. You can G... Read More
http://www.dashes.com/anil/2005/06/02/defining_ones_... Read More
I'm a fan of The-Dream, the producer-turned-singer who was born Terius Nash and is responsible for pop gems ranging from Rihanna's "Umbrella" to Mariah's "Touch... Read More
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That was actually funny enough for me to LOL (which I don't do often when I read blogs) and sign up for TypeKey, just to tell you how funny that was =]
What you did is really... um... stretching it.
That is incredible, you are my hero. And yes, i signed up with TypeKey just to tell you how awesome it was.
Pity the poor NYT reader who says "What's that on his shirt? GOATSE? Hmm, let's just Google that and see what it's all about...AAAGH!"
This is a bit late, but I wasn't reading your blog in 2002, so...
if you do a simple Google search on my name, what do you get? This site. I own my name. I am the first, and definitive, source of information on me.
Hey, Googlism! Who is this Phil Edwards guy anyway?
phil edwards is canada's most decorated olympian
phil edwards is credited on the following cds
phil edwards is a freelance writer in the uk
phil edwards is credited as being the first to ride the banzai pipeline
phil edwards is definitely a collectable as well as a great wearable shirt
phil edwards is synonymous with surfing
phil edwards is noted as the first to ride it successfully in 1961
phil edwards is keen for staff to contact him with any queries or concerns concerning any aspect of disability
phil edwards is no longer accurate
...and it goes on. Out of thirty Googlism hits, precisely three are actually about me; one of them's in Dutch and the other two are (coincidentally) no longer accurate. Perhaps I should change my name to something with fewer namespace collisions.
Oops - sorry about the whitespace (I only put in
'< br >'s, honest).
found you through Wizbang who linked to your site...you will ge traffic now...