A recent study reports that 47% of adult Internet users in the U.S. have Googled themselves.
This shouldn’t be a surprise, when experts advise that this is one thing you MUST do, especially if you’re looking for a job. After all, you don’t want a prospective employer finding the top results of a search on you to be photos or posts that show you in a less-than-flattering light.
The study says, “Americans under 50 and those with more education and income were more likely to self-Google — in some cases because their jobs demand a certain online persona.” We also Google friends, family and new boyfriends/girlfriends.
I was curious about the group that did the study, so of course I Googled the Pew Internet & American Life Project. It’s a Washington, DC-based organization whose mission is:
To produce reports “that explore the impact of the Internet on families, communities, work and home, daily life, education, health care and civic and political life. The Project aims to be an authoritative source on the evolution of the Internet through collection of data and analysis of real-world developments as they affect the virtual world.”
Among the information found on the site is that men and women are pretty much equally online these days, at 71% and 70% respectively. Not surprisingly, usage also goes up in tandem with household income and education.