Thursday, April 30, 2009

Woo … woo … woo … woo … (to the tune of "The Twilight Zone"


You are OUT THERE... more than you think!!!!!

My writer friends and I frequently talk about the need to create an "online presense." I'm guessing that IF YOU ARE READING THIS, you are already present… more than you know.

Have you ever “Googled” your own name? You should. You might be surprised. You are "out there" more than you realize. Perhaps, even, more than you want to be. I have a charming friend, Mary, who is fond of posting photos online… so when I googled my name and THEN CLICKED ON "IMAGES" rather than just search, you can imagine I wasn’t overly thrilled to find a picture of myself at a recent baby shower we attended (for Deirdra Coppel) "sniffing" poopy baby diapers ~ it wasn’t real poop, of course; just blended chocolate in a baby diaper and we were supposed to identify which candy bar it came from. (Just kidding, Mary ~ it's totally fine that you posted it).

I found myself listed in lots of places, even my own blog, and also blogs I have commented on. I also tried "Googling" various writer friends: Marsha Ward, Kerry Blair and Janette Rallison, among others, using the "IMAGES" button each time. It’s pretty fun. You have to wade through people who are not even closely related as well. But you are in there… I mean, OUT there. You should try it. Be sure to try clicking on "IMAGES" as well as just doing a search. You can also try putting in the names of your ancestors and clicking in "IMAGES" ~ you might link up to something useful.

Now, if you happen to share a famous name, like my friend, Cindy Williams, you can pretty much guess that every image will be of Cindy Williams, the TV star. So, I added Arizona to the end of Cindy’s name and that’s when I got a picture of her. However, I couldn't help but wonder when it was that she got into body building? You should SEE the body builder who shares her name!!! YIKES!!

I put in my kids’ names, etc. and lots of images came up, especially with all the blogging everyone does these days. So, it’s great to be visible, but it bears a warning of some caution. Be careful what (and who) you post about and how many personal details you include; because once you hit the SEND button… it’s pretty much a done deal. And well… cyberspace has no secrets.

4 comments:

Krista Darrach said...

Were you losing sleep over this? Wow... you posted it at 1:15am?
LOLOLOL
You crack me up.
You can also do a google "alert" and so everytime someone types in your name in google it emails you.
I did it, and it's pretty weird...I get at least an email a day - saying that someone googled my name. (just wish it told me who it was). At any rate it's pretty weird.
Hope you get some rest...and I know you're counting down. What are you going to do with all your time this summer? (I know...what time?).
Luv ya!
~Krista

Mandy said...

That's funny mom:) I think I would rather not know what's out there sometimes. Cute picture. Love ya.

Stacie Robinson said...

Wow, that definitely makes you think about what you post.

Stephanie Abney said...

OK, No, I am NOT worrying about any of it, Krista ~ just making a comment. I was up late because it WAS my turn to post on the ANWA blog and I had to stay at school for our science fair that night (silly to drive home for an hour and drive back) so I wanted to get it done and simply made a few adjustments and posted it here as well. I love the goole alerts ~ but I must have set mine up differently, as it only sends alerts when my name OR the names of those I have listed (which are a few) show up on the web and then it gives the link to it.

Anyway, as you know, I LOVE cyberspace. It's been such fun FINDING people from way back when and keeping track of other's fun activities and if my friend Mary didn't post all her great pictures, I might not see them. Clearly I'm not really bothered by it or I wouldn't have posted it here ~ me smelling the "poopy" diaper. I did poorly on that little test. Guess it's because I actually didn't eat ANY chocolate for 21 years (another post entirely) and only started eating it again about 18 months ago.