Who am I online?

After researching digital citizenship, I started thinking about my online identity. This made me even more excited when I read the next blog assignment was to Google yourself and see what aspects of your life others can see.

I have Googled myself at random points in my life because my friends have made it into a game. When we would do it all together, I would have the smallest online identity because I hardly used technology, especially social media. This time, I noticed that my online identity has grown only a small amount.

I did not think that paying to learn about myself on countless websites was necessary, so I stuck to the first two pages of googles results as well as the images and news sections. I searched Google with four different sets of key words{(first name, last name), (first name, last name, hometown), (first name, middle name, last name), (first name, middle name, last name, hometown)}. I found that Google did not recognize any of my information when my middle name was thrown into the mix, and I needed my hometown in order to get results with my specific information.

Throughout this experience, I have found that there are many Barbara Pieper’s in this world. There are three that accompany my results for the state of Nebraska. Two of the three live in Omaha and the other lives in Elkhorn.

I cannot begin to count the number of pictures associated with different Barbara Pieper’s on Google Images or the number of Facebook profiles Google can find. I was surprised to find that the first article to show in the results for the combination (first name, last name, hometown) was my NE Track and Field Profile. The other relevant results were linked to newspaper articles for scholarships and awards, the CSC Merit Pages, and the White Pages.

Because Facebook was the only option to appear on Google for social media, I believe this shows I spend most of my time on Facebook even though most of my online time is spent on Google. I also think the results would show future employers that I am dedicated to my education and work hard to achieve the goals I set for myself.

This Google search of myself left me with a few unanswered questions. The main question is: Will future employers pay for the information found on the sites that do “public” background checks or will they just use the background check they provide? The second question is: will my lack of an online profile hurt me when it comes to finding a job? I have been told many times that employers will use online searches to narrow down candidates applying for jobs. Will this hurt my chances or will it show them that I have better things to do with my time? My last question is: Do you know who you are online?