42% of Americans Have Googled Themselves; None Have Gone Blind

Friday, January 29th, 2010 by Frank Reed

42% of Americans Have Googled Themselves; None Have Gone Blind

A new study commissioned by Microsoft is about, of all things, googling yourself. I guess that if someone had used the phrase “binging yourself” there may be laws about that in many states but the irony of this is not lost on me. At any rate, the study shows that there aren’t as many people keeping an eye on what their personal online reputation looks like. Consider the people who are googling other people as a part of their job (ie. human resources types) this could be something that comes back to bite you.

Search Engine Land gives us some of the background

The numbers come from a December survey commissioned by Microsoft on the subject of online reputations. The survey polled about 2,500 consumers and recruiting personnel in the US, UK, Germany and France, and was just released to coincide with today’s International Data Privacy Day.

The chart below says that 42% of the people in the US have googled themselves or looked up their online information using a search engine.

If you would like to get the study it can be found on the Microsoft site.

Either people in Germany and France are more online reputation monitoring savvy or more paranoid but they seem to get the concept more so than the US and the UK.

So what are the pitfalls of not googling yourself on a regular basis (please keep the wisecracks to a minimum)? Ask an HR professional. If you are in the US they are paying very close attention to what is online about you and it can have dire consequences for job hunters.

While those of us in the US may not be Googling ourselves, the Human Resources industry is picking up the slack. According to the survey, 79 percent of US hiring personnel say they review online information about job applicants, and 70 percent admit to rejecting candidates based on what they’ve found. Those numbers drop dramatically for each of the other countries surveyed, with France the most different: Only 23% of recruiters there review online information, and only 14% have rejected candidates.

In addition to search engines which the study showed is the most popular way for HR types to learn about you the are also paying attention to social networking sites, photo and video sharing sites and professional / business networking sites.

One thing to note for you folks who suffer from having a common name that it seems like millions of others do. If you think that you can hide behind the fact that there are a lot of people with the same name all anyone needs to do is add a small qualifier to see just who you really are. I looked at just “Frank Reed” v “Frank Reed internet” and the results are quite different as they are much more directed at me. Any savvy HR searcher is not going to just look at your name and feel like they have done their due diligence.

It’s pretty simple; be careful with what you put ANYWHERE online. We hear that a lot but everyday the reports of ‘stupid human tricks online’ grow. Remember that according to some of the more influential people in this space like Google’s Eric Schmidt and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg privacy is not something to be expected anymore. If you are not monitoring this yourself it’s your fault if you get caught not Google’s.

Social Media Monitoring in Just 60-Seconds. Guaranteed!

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13 comments on “42% of Americans Have Googled Themselves; None Have Gone Blind”

Aleks Says:

January 29th, 2010 at 12:12 pm

I found myself in google!!!!! Facebook is indexed by Google… it is not good
ibo Says:

January 29th, 2010 at 2:17 pm

Really nice and has a flowing narrative. Thanks
ibo´s last blog ..Türk Telekom Akşam 7 Sabah 7 Bedava Konuşma

Frank Reed Reply:
January 29th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
@ibo – Awwwwwww shucks…… your sincerity is sooooooooo touching.
Auto Tweet Says:

January 30th, 2010 at 10:12 am

I’ve googled myself a few time but I actually never even considered binging myself.

If you say it online, it will never go away. Someone somewhere can find it if they want. Watch what you say and who you say it to.

It doesn’t surprise me that the French are so self conscious about themselves.
Auto Tweet´s last blog ..How to Get Started on Twitter and Facebook
Mark Says:

February 1st, 2010 at 6:31 am

Frank
Looking at the survey detail it is amazing the levels to which the recruiters will go – even looking on auction sites to see a candidates reputation. Scary.
5 Ways to Avoid Sabotaging Your Personal Brand Online Says:

February 11th, 2010 at 2:46 pm

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Do You Google Yourself? | GetClickz.com Says:

February 24th, 2010 at 12:18 am

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Barry Hurd Says:

February 28th, 2010 at 2:40 pm

I really had some problems with this report from Microsoft Frank. The lack of niche knowledge in reputation and search management (or digital presence/brand) set the entire thing off in the wrong direction in the first place.

I believe the numbers are substantially off, as during presentations my own numbers have gone above 80% for non-technical audiences (granted I am in the northwest, and tech adoption is at the front of the curve)

I also believe the recruiting numbers are off. I have worked on several top ten job sites over the past years and have numerous recruiting points of interest, all of which research candidates at a higher percentage than what is claimed in the MS report.
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