Digital Tattoo

Let's see what Google Says

The phrase "Google it" has become so common place today, rarely does a noun become a verb, but it has here. Googling for an answer has become second nature to most people with an internet capable device. Google can be used to search for more than just answers to questions, including searching for people.

Searching for Myself, Not for Answers

The first time I Googled my name was in college when we talked about digital footprints in one of my education classes. At that time the top results were for various doctors and a maritime historian. When I google searched myself again recently, those were still some of the top independent hits, however the third result was an article published by the school I work at, Fenwick, where I was mentioned and tagged on the article. 

Image Credit: Author - Screenshot of Google Search

I was actually pleased to see that I had not made a larger presence on the first page of results for my name, without adding additional search criteria. I do not mind coming up in searches but when working with high school students I appreciate the fact that they might need to work harder if they are trying to find anything. For example, when I added the town I grew up in into the search, then a number of results applied to me, including a news article from 2009 about a scholarship I had won from a Fox Valley Community Foundation. 

When I searched for my name in DuckDuckGo only doctors were found on the first page of results, the maritime scholar result from Wikipedia that Google had on its first page of results is excluded by DuckDuckGo. 

Image Credit - Author. Screenshot of DuckDuckGo results

I have always been intrigued by search engine optimization (SEO) and the various algorithms that the search engines use to organize and rank the results. 

Beyond Google

There are many sites and services that allow you to search for people and their information. Some search by name while others search by address, email, phone, or any combination of the four. 

For example, Radaris provides a small amount of information for free before it links out to more in depth, paid findings. This free preview of information still says more than most attempts to simply Google search. This search resulted in my birth month, current city of residence, and some accurate relationships. 

Image Credit - Author, Screenshot of Radaris results

Two of the sites that provide more indepth information behind a pay wall are Instant CheckMate and BeenVerified. Some of the information these sites provide is free, but most is paid. 

When comparing the information available from various free sites I created the chart below. 

	Data Mining Sites
Personal Information	Nuwber (on Safari)	Peoplefinders (search by address)  (on Safari)	PeekYou (on Safari)	Radaris (on Google Chrome)	FamilyTreeNow (on Safari)
Name	X	X	X	X	X
Accurate Past Address	X	X	X	X	X
Accurate Current Address			X	X	X
Accurate Phone Number	X		X		X
Accurate Email Address	X
Accurate Relations	X	X			X
Accurate Marital Status
Accurate Birth month and year (and/or age)	X	X	X	X

One of the items that I find most interesting is the associate of my name to my old address in Aurora. This is not only the house I grew up in, but my wife and I moved in with my parents for a year or so after our first child was born. However, since then we have purchased a house. I find it intriguing that the public information of the house purchase with my name is not enough, in many cases, to 'overcome' the years of residency in Aurora. About half of the sites gave an Aurora address while the others gave the current Bridgeview location correctly. 

Who Should Know and When? 

Who should know about these sites and when should they be taught about them? This is not a straight forward one size fits all answer. I think that every student before they graduate high school should know how to do data mining about themselves. This is a way to preserve one's digital reputation. That said, some students are mature enough to learn about this early on in high school while others might just use this type of search to find people's homes to prank them. 

I think parents can teach their children the skills and tricks of data mining when they think their child is ready. If a child has a strong social media presence before high school it might be wise to start teaching them the basics of data mining, show them a simple site or two, or even show them about Googling themselves just to see what comes up.

I also think that second semester junior year as part of preparations for college, trade school, job market, and etc. applications the technological deep dive on the tattoo should be discussed and the students should be walked through a reflection on what their digital tattoo might say to potential admissions counselors and employers.