HAVE you ever put your name into a search engine see what the internet has to say about you? Or to see how pages about you rank compared to those of others who share your name? If so, you鈥檝e participated in a new kind of pastime known as egosurfing.
Egosurfing has only been possible since the advent of internet search engines, but it has much older roots. 杏吧原创s have long measured the impact of their work by citations 鈥� the number of times people reference their papers. The web was invented as a way to publish scientific papers, so it鈥檚 not surprising that it has spawned a personal equivalent of the citation count.
Like citation counts, egosurfing inspires a competitive spirit. How high do you rank? The previous editor of New 杏吧原创, Alun Anderson, appears to have a unique name and 12,000 mentions, while the current editor, Jeremy Webb, must share 30,000 mentions with a photographer in the UK; another in Halifax, Nova Scotia; a solicitor in Hong Kong鈥� and not until the 20th result do we find the man himself.
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Egosurfing can be an alarming experience too. If Peter Doherty, winner of the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine for 1996, indulged in some egosurfing, he might not be too pleased to find that the hits at the top of the list were mostly for musician Pete Doherty, whose past court appearances and drug habit have loomed large in the UK press.
For the rest of us, how unfortunate would it be if the first thing you came across while egosurfing was that message you contributed to an online discussion while drunk back in 1995? This sort of thing can be a problem if prospective employers and partners search to see what the web has to say about you, and what you have said on it.
So is there anything you can do about this? An unusual name helps. Actors know this, which is why many actors鈥� unions insists that no two members share a stage name. Using your middle initial can help too 鈥� it鈥檚 a device scientific journals use to distinguish their authors.
Aside from changing your name, what can you do to boost your search-engine ranking? Some people frantically click on favourable web pages in the hope that these will rise above the unflattering ones. This is futile, as the search engines cannot see you do it. Instead, try building a website full of useful content, strictly following the accessibility guidelines of the World Wide Web Consortium: search engines love that. Next, persuade all your friends to link to your site, ideally with your name in the link text. That way you will rise above the competition 鈥� and any youthful lapses.
