Have you ever Googled yourself?

I must confess, I have. A few times actually. I’m not sure why, but every now and then I type my name into the engine to see what comes up.

In my case, The Fool appears, along with some articles I wrote while on work experience. And, if you scroll down a bit you’ll see ‘my’ Facebook entry, where I reveal my true identity as a balding Chinese man.

If you don’t believe me, look for yourself.

That is what I look like in the morning.

However, it’s one thing to fall into the trap of narcissism as I clearly have, but quite another to have it done for you.

Let me recount a tale my friend told me that had me in tears of laughter, and one I feel we should all take note of.

So my mate was on a date with a guy she’d met on a night out. Was she keen? Of course. Was he? Well, I’d better tell the story.

So there they were tucking into their l’escargot, or in their case, a Nando’s half chicken. The conversation was polite, as it often is on first dates. Light, and not too probing.

Then, half way through the date, he says:

‘Soooooo, what’s it like working at XX? Must be much better than when you were at XX…’

What?

‘Er, yeah. I saw on your Facebook profile that you worked at XX’

‘But I haven’t even added you yet’

‘Yeah but I found you’

‘So you found me, didn’t add me, and have been reading up about me???’

CUE IMAGES OF PSYCHO SHOWER SCENE

Needless to say, they didn’t kiss that night.

OK, everybody stalks people on Facebook. But it’s one thing to do it, and quite another to tell people like Mr. Airhead did.

I was reading a press release the other day saying just how much information people can get about you on social networking sites…and it's not just fraudsters.

In fact, as the press release said, even prospective employers play the Googling game.

It gave me great comfort to be told by Ed that I was Googled before being offered the job here.

Thankfully, my slate was clean. But if you leave your Facebook profile open for others to see, the question you need to ask yourself is would you mind your future boss seeing that photo of you in halls dressed as a drag queen? Or would you want a potential partner to know that you have an extreme passion for stamp collectiing?

If you prefer to get to know them before revealing details such as this, perhaps you may want to consider keeping your Facebook profile private.
Unfortunately, when it comes to Google there's not much you can do about the things that come up. Apart from behave, of course.

But keep it private! That way you can avoid any more of those Norman Bates moments...