Google

Google Owns My Identity: 16 Things They Know About Me

08.29.2007 by Marc Chernoff // 15 Comments

Google Owns Me I am a huge Google advocate. I love their products so much that I use almost every one of them on a fairly regular basis. Much of my computer based productivity is performed online via Google’s offerings. In fact, based on my excessive use, I think Google may know almost as much about me as I do. I’m surely not the only G freak out there, because most of my friends and colleagues have an @gmail.com email address too… 😉 something I’d like to think I had something to do with.

A vast number of articles have been written on the topic of Google’s privacy policies. I know because I’ve probably read most of them. Many of these articles discuss the specifics how Google stores and secures their user’s personal information. Sure, I like to know that my personal data is secure… But have you ever actually compiled a detailed list of your personal information that Google does know? I just did, and it’s slightly startling!

Here are 16 things Google knows about me and how they acquired the info:

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6 Digitally Traceable Tracks We Unconsciously Leave Behind

08.12.2007 by Marc Chernoff // 15 Comments

Digital Tracks We live in a world of constant connection where the products of our existence interrelate in such a way that we rarely leave a clean slate behind us. Many people fail to see the correlation between technological convenience and disruption of privacy. Even when nobody is watching, it is quite plausible that a computer somewhere is. The data tracks we leave behind are traceable, and when the dots are connected, the trail leads right back to us.

I have compiled a list of 6 digitally traceable tracks we unconsciously leave behind as we trek through our daily routines. I have also included a hypothetical example of how easy it can be to track someone down online by tracing their online affiliations and dabbling with the information that is found.

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The Google Anonymous are Safe and Jobless

07.27.2007 by Marc Chernoff // 12 Comments

The Google Anonymous In today’s fast paced, highly competitive job market where first impressions are the fine line between success and failure, you must be keenly aware of your online image. Bear in mind that a rising number of human resource recruiters are using Google when gathering information on potential employees. The necessity to maintain a clean online image should be common sense. We all know that posting photos of ourselves dancing on bar tops and/or partaking in acts radicalism probably won’t help our image in the eyes of an employer.

With these points in mind, being anonymous on Google might sound like a safe bet. But what really happens if a Google search for your name comes back blank? If an employer searches Google for your name and absolutely no results are returned, are you really any better off? The answer may be no. A mid-2006 market analysis by career search firm ExecuNet reported that 77% of the job recruiters claim they use search engines as a primary tool to research potential employees. It seems quite probable that this percentage has increased drastically in the last year.

If Google can’t locate a single webpage that references you, how much of an impact could you have possibly made in your career? If you have a tech based career it paints an even darker picture of your past performance. Having your own web presence says something about your contributions to the market itself. Even if your presence is derived from short intelligent comments left on professional forums, it shows that you are actively involved and aware of what is going on.

The best defense against being Google anonymous is a good offense. Be proactive. Create a web presence that you are proud to identify with. When you set out to build this presence, use your real name if you want people to find you.

Here are 3 ideas to get you started:

1. Create a Blog – Blogger Adam Darowski suggests that the blog is the new resume. If executed properly, it could be even better than a resume. It is a true representation of who you are, spoken freely in your own words. Your blog has the power to completely influence someone’s opinion about you. It satisfies the curiosity of any entity, especially potential employers, which might Google you to see what kind of person you are. The key is to show them your best, but remain truthful while doing so. Truth is the key to success for any blogger.

You can create a free blog using one of the following sites:

2. Create a Personal Website – Popular domain sellers like GoDaddy and Yahoo Small-Business have simple step-by-step webpage creation tools that allow non-techie users to setup attractive websites. A website is designed to be more static than a blog, so you are not expected to update it as often. It could be used as a professional web portfolio by including your resume, professional works, career summaries, goals, etc.

Get started with a personal website:
- GoDaddy
- Yahoo Small-Business

3. Use Professional Networking Sites – Professional social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Ziggs can also assist you in establishing a respectable online presence that will be searchable via Google. Both sites allow you to build an online profile, associate it with past employers, and network with professional contacts.

Get started with professional social networking:
- LinkedIn
- Ziggs

Just remember, if you don’t exist to Google, you may not exist at all.

7 Clever Google Tricks Worth Knowing

07.25.2007 by Marc Chernoff // 102 Comments

Below I have compiled a list of 7 clever Google tricks that I believe everyone should be aware of. Together I think they represent the apex of the grand possibilities associated with Google search manipulation tricks and hacks. Although there are many others out there, these 7 tricks are my all-time favorite. Enjoy yourself.

1. Find the Face Behind the Result – This is a neat trick you can use on a Google Image search to filter the search results so that they include only images of people. How is this useful? Well, it could come in handy if you are looking for images of the prominent people behind popular products, companies, or geographic locations. You can perform this search by appending the code &imgtype=face to the end of the URL address after you perform a standard Google Image search.

Examples (notice the differences in each URL):

2. Google + Social Media Sites = Quality Free Stuff – If you are on the hunt for free desktop wallpaper, stock images, WordPress templates or the like, using Google to search your favorite social media sites is your best bet. The word “free” in any standard search query immediately attracts spam. Why wade through potential spam in standard search results when numerous social media sites have an active community of users who have already ranked and reviewed the specific free items that interest you. All you have to do is direct Google to search through each of these individual social media sites, and bingo… you find quality content ranked by hundreds of other people.

Examples:

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The Only 7 Things Yahoo Does Better than Google

07.07.2007 by Marc Chernoff // 28 Comments

yahoo vs google Let me start this off by stating that I am a long time Google power user. Google handles all of my daily web searching, email, chat, RSS feeds, blog monetization, etc. In my opinion, it blows Yahoo (and most other Internet companies) clear out of the water. However, there are a select few services that I regularly turn to Yahoo for. Why? It’s either because Yahoo does it better, or because Google doesn’t offer it.

Here are the only 7 things Yahoo does better than Google:

Personal Finance – Yahoo Finance contains a great wealth of original content that easily rivals some of the biggest financial sites in the game (CNN Money, TheStreet.com, etc.). The interface is equally intuitive and accessible to both new investors and longtime financial gurus. Google Finance is coming along, but it isn’t quite up to par just yet.
Answers to Questions – Yahoo Answers allows users to ask questions or answer other user’s questions; A simple concept that works well for Yahoo. Google has no such active service. The closest competition on the web right now is Ask MetaFilter… also a great question/answer service.
Website Backlink Info – Most webmasters like to know exactly how many sites are linking to their various websites. Yahoo makes this especially easy with their “linkdomain:” search operator. It quickly provides a full list of incoming links to any given domain. For some reason Google does not publicly disclose this backlink information, but instead provides a small sample of quality incoming links to a given domain via it’s “link:” search operator. Google does provide Google Webmaster Tools that will give you backlink information for a specific domain once you sign up and prove to Google that you are the owner of the domain.
Image Hosting and Sharing – With its recent purchase of Flickr, Yahoo now rules the Web 2.0 photo sharing market. Flickr is currently the king over all the other photo sharing sites out there. Although, lets not forget that Google rules the Web 2.0 video sharing market with YouTube.
Local Search – If you are looking for businesses around your town or city, Yahoo Local is a step ahead of Google. While Google can perform local searches in a variety of different ways through their standard search interface and Google Maps application, Yahoo Local is a more polished service that puts all local search capabilities on one convenient page. Yahoo local is sort of like a digital Yellow/White Pages.
Entertainment Portal – From music to online games to sports, Yahoo provides a solid entertainment web portal capable of satisfying various entertainment and leisure user demographics. For better or for worst, Google isn’t trying to be an entertainment portal, so it doesn’t even come close to competing with Yahoo in this regard.
Privacy Policy – Yahoo is arguably better with the privacy concerns of its users. Certainly this point could be debated in favor of either company, but there seems to be more public controversy surrounding Google’s privacy policies. Like most, I suck it up and use Google’s services anyway. I do, however, have a Yahoo Mail account that I use to communicate with other bloggers concerning blog monetization strategies that may include Google’s Adwords service. I figure, why let Google have access to that info too?

So what does Google do better than Yahoo? Well, that’s easy… every conceivable task other than the 7 points listed above. Of course, that’s just my opinion… 😉