To Thine Own Self Be Googled

Number of adults searching themselves online doubles in three years

By Peter Fearon, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 17, 2007 5:23 AM CST

Copied

To Thine Own Self Be Googled — A new study says teens are more likely than adults to restrict who can see their profiles at an online hangout like Facebook or News Corp.'s MySpace, contrary to conventional wisdom. (Associated Press)

More Americans are Googling themselves, friends and dates. A Pew study found that 47% of US adult Internet users have looked up themselves using the search engine, compared with 22% in 2002. The study found 53% Googled neighbors, colleagues, or dates—often checking bankruptcy and divorce proceedings, and other public records. Women are slightly more likely to Google dates than men.

The results are lower than expected. "There's a big chunk of Internet users who have never done this simple act of plugging their name into search engines," said one researcher. "Certainly awareness has increased, but I don't know that it has necessarily kept pace with the amount of content we post about ourselves." (More Pew Internet and American Life Project stories.)

Report an error