Nearly half of us 'Google' ourselves

According to a new report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project internet users are searching for themselves online. I confess, I have done this.

As users post more information about themselves on social networking sites and elsewhere, they are also conducting more online searches about themselves, according to a new study. Almost half of all U.S. Internet users (47%) have searched for information about themselves online, up from 22% in 2002, according to a report released yesterday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

The report notes that self-searching is a natural consequence of more and more people posting personal information about themselves online. Younger users specifically are far more likely to regularly google themselves than others.

The report also categorizes four different types of users who are willing to put personal information on the internet. (1) The Confident Creatives: This group accounts for 17% of adult online users. They are mostly young adults who aren't worried about how available their data is, but they still try to limit personal information. (2) The Concerned and Careful: Twenty-one percent of adult users worry about the personal information available about them online and take steps to limit this data. (3) The Worried by the Wayside: This group, which comprises 18% of Internet users, are anxious about the information that is available about them online but don't do anything to limit that information. (4) The Unfazed and Inactive: Forty-three percent of online adults don't worry about the availability of their personal information online and don't take steps to limit that information.

I also wonder, however, if younger users google themselves for other reasons--namely to answer the question, "Do I matter?" I often will type my name into the Google search box to read what my most committed antagonists are saying about me. Other times, however, I search my name wondering if anybody else cares about, enjoys or is interested in anything I have to say. Driving many of these searches is my quest to discover if I am important, yet. Google self-searches are simply a sophisticated way of continuing the high-school popularity contest. "Ye that haveth the greatest number of hits wins!"

Why do we so desperately want to know that we matter? Why do we long to say, "Hey, do you know who you're talking to, do you?" "Do you know who I am? "I blog, I matter!" "Is anyone listening?"

Most young men walk around totally confused about direction in life. Your average college guy doesn't believe that his life is really going to amount to much. He's a peon. An ant. A filthy rag. Useless. So we search on Google to see if it's true. It may be narcissism, a low self-image, a recognition idol, or genuine curiosity. Like a social drinker we binge searching for ourselves when we want to feel important. If we then find a link or reference or two we rejoice: "Yes, I matter!"