Egosurfing

Egosurfing (usually referred to as Googling yourself and sometimes called vanity searching, egosearching, egogoogling, autogoogling, self-googling) is the practice of searching for one's own given name, surname, full name, pseudonym, or screen name on a popular search engine, to see what results appear. It has become increasingly popular with the rise of popular search engines such as Google, as well as free blogging and web-hosting services. It is sometimes combined with third-party tools such as Googlefight when several people egosurf together, or with Pimp My Search when people create their own Google-like search engine, or accessed by SMS through services such as 199QUERY (Australia) or AQA (UK) which people SMS their name to a number and an "egosearch" is performed on that name and returned (egotexting).

Similarly, an egosurfer is one who surfs the Internet for his or her own name, to see what, if any, articles appear about himself or herself.

The term was coined by Sean Carton in 1995 and first appeared in print as an entry in Gareth Branwyn's March 1995 Jagon Watch column in Wired.

Egosurfing can be used to find data spills, released information that is undesirable to have in the public eye.

See also

• Kibozing - prior to the existence of search engines, a similar practice existed on Usenet, known as kibozing after James "Kibo" Parry, who was well known for replying in a surreal fashion to anyone who mentioned his/her name, on any newsgroup.

References

• Thomas Nicolai, Lars Kirchhoff, Axel Bruns, Jason Wilson, Barry Saunders (2008-10-03). ""Google Yourself! Measuring the performance of personalized information resources". AOIR Conference proceedings. Association of Internet Researcher. http://en.scientificcommons.org/31968134. 
• Patrick Dent (2000-09-14). ""Ego-Surfing" derides valid, prudent activity". Online Journalism Review. USC Annenberg School for Communication. http://www.ojr.org/ojr/ethics/1017964102.php. 
• "Search Engine Optimisation – It's all about Ego". The Web Marketing Group. http://www.webmarketinggroup.co.uk/search-engine-optimisation-seo/Article870.aspx. 
• Michael Miller (2006). "Specialized Searches: Googling yourself". Googlepedia: The Ultimate Google Resource. Pearson Technology Group. pp. 76–78. ISBN 078973639X. 
• University at Buffalo (2004-03-29). ""Self-Googling" Isn't Just Vanity; It's a Shrewd Form of Personal "Brand Management," Says UB Internet-Culture Expert". Press release. http://www.buffalo.edu/news/fast-execute.cgi/article-page.html?article=66380009. 
• Beppi Crosariol (2006-09-25). "When digital dirt goes all the way to the top". The Globe and Mail (CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc.). http://www.globeauto.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060925.wcoonlineimage25/BNStory/. 
• People Search Andrew Czernek, Google Knol.
• Auto Googling Chas Jones, Writers' Services.
• Your Ego Just Took a Blow at Wired.com
• Jargon Watch at Wired.com
• egoSurf egoSurf without the guilt.