The act of Googling oneself has become the digital age's premiere guilty pleasure-an activity enjoyed by all and admitted by few. the phenomenon has even been the subject of scholarly research. Last year, a team of Swiss and Australian social scientists published a study concluding that the practice of self-Googling (or "ego-surfing," as it's sometimes called) can partly be traced to a rise in narcissism in society, but that it is also an attempt by people to identify and shape their personal online "brand." The authors of the survey no doubt returned to their cubicles and Googled themselves to see if the study was posted online.
The folks at Google are well aware that their site handles millions of vanity searches every day, and that users aren't always thrilled about the results that pop up when they Google themselves. "The reason people search for themselves is that they're curious about what other people see when they search for their name," says Joe Kraus, Google's director of product management. "One problem is they don't have any control over the search results.
Either they don't like the search results, or what happens most of the time is, they're not listed on the first page. If your name is Brian Jones and you're not the deceased Rolling Stones guitarist, you don't exist.