What do you find when you google your name?

Today is the day I am supposed to post something to this blog but I had no ideas of what I wanted to discuss. I could have done anything about why facebook is so great or why it is terrible or ....I just had an idea for next week possibly the irony of why the older generations being so against but recently I have seen many of them jumping on the bandwagon, hmmm I'll think about it. Back to today's post, I wanted something interesting but due to a long distracting week I hadn't even payed attention to the recent events outside of my little world. My solution, I Googled "facebook" and found this news story titled "Why tons of Facebook pages will wind up in Google search" It perked my interest because I once googled my name and my facebook page popped up. That kind of bothered me to know that even though you could only see some information my profile was available to to any random person anywhere in the world who uses Google (the biggest search engine).

It was time to read on so at least I could find comfort or have a legitimate reason to be infuriated as to why google had access to individual facebook pages. Here is google's answer:

"Search is a natural starting point for discovering the world's information," Google reps wrote in a 2009 post introducing real-time search, "and we strive to bring you the freshest, most comprehensive and relevant search results over an ever expanding universe of content."

Basically there are many businesses, musicians, celebrities, etc. who use facebook as a way to connect with customers, or fans. For their benefit their pages need to come up in a google search. This makes sense and in fact sounds very beneficial, a quick status update or skimming thorough pictures could give someone all the information they need to potentially bring in more business.

They did mention that private profiles are safe but I was still skeptical because I had seen my page pop up before in a search. I was pretty sure I had since increased my security settings but I had to know for sure. First result: linkedin (that's fine I want people to find that one) Second: twitter (I guess that is okay because I only use that for this class, no personal info) and then there it was the third result. a little bothered I decided to click on it so I might be able to find a way to make sure it doesn't show up again. What do you know there is another girl with my exact same name! I've only heard of a few other Sereens but they all spell it different, not only does this girl spell her name the same but she has the same last name! What a blow to my ego, I thought I was the one and only. Oh well...I wish I knew her then we could be friends.

Facebook, Twitter, or the new Google Buzz?

It seemed to have all started with what is called "My Space." Now there are all kinds of sites used for social networking. The most popular being facebook and twitter. What about this new trend by Google? It's all the "buzz." In this age of technology we're always looking for new ways to get connected and when something new is introduced it spreads quickly with everyone trying to get in with the new trend.

Google Buzz appears to be a combination of all the other social networking tools combined, managed through your gmail account. From a users perspective here are some pros and cons to google buzz.

The pros: it will allow you to connect with many other sites including twitter and facebook to feed into the buzz, this means when you update your status somewhere else it will post it there for your buzz friends to see. You can stay connected with all of your closest friends whom you have taken time to get their email addresses without the junk from people you can barely remember who they are. It lends itself more to having actual conversation with many different people, where the other sites are usually used for short updates and occasionally individual conversations.

Some cons: how well is it actually going to catch on when we are already so used to using the other social networking sites? it would take work to start using the buzz to our advantage. With facebook making it so easy to find friends and still send messages like you would an email it takes away the need to get email addresses of your friends which is who you would want to follow and be connected with in the buzz.

Personally I have not yet found it worth my time to really utilize it other than to comment on posts of my two friends who do use it. Who knows maybe one day it really will catch on and will become something many people can't live without. Google has a way of sneaking in and taking over.

Are you a Stalker?

Is stalking someone on facebook a bad thing? sounds kind of creepy and I'm sure most of us cringe at the idea. But think about it, haven't we all done it at least once? When we have a date with someone you don't know very well, or even if you meet someone in a class that you think is cute, you're talking to a friend and want to know who they are talking about, there are lots of different reasons we come up with to stalk someone we're not yet friends with. While it sounds weird there really are times where it's helpful to get to know someone. If someone puts their information on the internet they have given authorization for others to view it.

I'm not going to lie but when I see that one of my facebook friends comments on a picture of me from a while ago I get this unnerving feeling. Not that I mind because they are my friends and like I said I authorized them to view the content in my profile. It's just weird to think people randomly go through all of my pictures, I do it to others so who am I to complain? Stalking whether it is of people you don't know or are already friends with is an interesting concept. It's totally okay until you realize other people could be doing it to you then it sounds creepy.

The Possibilities are Endless

I may have said last week in my post that I hate when people depend on facebook for their personal relationships but I do love how it makes it easier to keep in contact with people that live a long distance away. I could probably make a pretty good list of the things I and just about everyone else like about facebook whether it's something I like using it for or not. In reading some classmates' blogs I realized there are more benefits to using facebook than I had originally thought. There is a culture that has always been intriguing to me but yet so foreign. This week I learned from reading the blog of a class mate of mine who is deaf that technology is very helpful and even essential in helping them communicate with the hearing and even to locate others who are deaf. It got me thinking about how incredible the technology we have to allow for people across different cultures to communicate and connect with others of like interests. I might be close minded but when I think of the different uses of facebook it's limited to my little world of family and friends, all in the U.S., typically middle class, English speaking. I've always wanted to travel the world and see what there is to discover in so many different countries. What I often forget is that there are many different cultures and different lives being lived right under my nose. This takes place in my own home, neighborhoods, classes, etc. There is so much to learn and discover. Having networks such as facebook allows countless possibilities and connections with people living a different culture to share their personal experiences.