I realize that sounds almost racy… Go on and google yourself. Reputations matter online and it is a trend that I expect will only increase over time. If you don’t think it matters that much, guess again. If your name is Joe Smith then you are probably right. However, if Joe Smith’s online moniker is something unique like ‘magic-unicorn-squid-man” and there is sufficient activity to link the two names together, then it is something to worry about.

Thanks Google, I stand corrected

My online persona is annebot and it has been since 1997. I also have a somewhat unique real life name (at least in the US). My surname is rather popular in Finland, where my family hails from – but now I digress.

When doing a random google search on myself I found a few interesting tidbits. The most interesting search result for my name was a paper on web trends by the American Marketing Association. They quoted me from this very blog on CircleClick.com! Wow. I was quoted along with the CTO of Eloqua, someone at Pivotal, etc. COOL! Did anyone contact me? Nope. Did they credit me, yes. So the only reason I know my fabulous quote about the iPad was used is because I googled myself! Nice reward, huh?

The next interesting tidbit was an entrepreneurial site that matches businesses with VCs. They have my picture, a profile on me they pulled from elsewhere. Did I sign up for this site? No way! I had no idea it even existed. Does this mean a new opportunity has arisen? I don’t really know, but it’s possible. I just know that this was only because again.. I googled myself.

In closing. I don’t want anybody else, when I think about it (you), I google myself…!