I Googled You
August 1, 2010 at 4:54 pm (Uncategorized) (Google, I Googled You, New Social Media, Organizational Communication, UP Manila, We Googled You)
Cyber Stalking. I’m a professional. I have my sourcesss. No need for cameras to take candid shots. What’s photo grabbing for? One of the best features of New Social Media EVER. 😀
This blog is inspired by our activity in our Comm Trends class last week. You see, this is a very, very delayed post. 😛 Companies are googling us! Aah! I tried it after my professor told us to check our digital footprint. I saw my friendster, multiply and facebook account. The results also showed the most clicked blog of one of my classmates where she had my blog on her blogroll. I just want to say something about this.
If they can google us, we, too, can google them. We’ve been done it before for our internships and case studies but not on the same level as when we will do when we’ll start to apply for a permanent employment after graduation.
For companies, organizations, HR people and corporations, here’s a little something for you:
We know you are googling us. Looking intently at what we’ve been doing for the past N years of our lives just like a stalker does. You should also know that we are googling you too. We can see you in different perspectives and point of views. If you haven’t been listening to the negative things about you, we do. We hear it and we hear it clear. Be careful. But don’t worry too much because we also hear the positive things people are chatting about you (if there are any).
We are an expert in stalking; we see your every move once we take interest in you. When you consider us for a position, it means that you’re interested in us too, right? Then, let’s stalk each other. Let’s see who’ll get the most information. I have to warn you though, what you’ll see is limited to those who know us, to our networks. You may consider it controlled since we can somehow easily ‘repair’ a damage about our reputation. How about you? What we’ll see about you, on the other hand, is not limited to those who know you. Why you ask? When our enemy tells to his/her friends about us, we have a code name so they could talk about us behind our backs. But when a consumer talks about you, they wouldn’t hesitate mentioning your name and telling the whole world how much you suck.
Do you see it now? Consider yourself warned. Your strategy might backfire on you. Not only should we be careful of our digital footprint and online reputation but you as well.Googling are not exclusive to you, it’s not only you who does it. Be aware of it.Take care of yourself, okay? Because we care.
“You need to know what is being said about you online. Today, all it takes is one enemy to put something anonymously on the Internet and everyone will see it.”
Michael Fertik
Dream on. 
heartsandsky said,
August 2, 2010 at 3:46 pm
that is why organizations really take strategic measures in managing their corporate reputation–it easily gets damaged, and too hard to repair.
it’s also a call for us to really be conscious with what we say, and more importantly, how we say it. this becomes easier when we choose to perform right in the first place, so that the reporting part (or promoting) won’t be hard. (remember 90% performance, 10% reporting in oc 105? :D) no need to lie, to fabricate, or to explain why you did poorly. life’s easier when there’s nothing to hide. 🙂
Gel said,
August 3, 2010 at 10:48 pm
And life’s easier when you don’t need to explain anything. 🙂
I even wonder if the term “consumer” is still appropriate. Big corporations are bending over to please the “consumer”. So are we JUST consumers? We have more power now. We don’t just consume. We’re driven by deprivation. Oops private joke. Villar class. Haha.
We can destroy a century-long reputation with a single blog post. Not that I underestimate big organizations, but you big guys better keep an eye (and a regular Google search) on your online reputation. 🙂
Gel said,
August 3, 2010 at 10:51 pm
Oh my. I thought this is Dion’s blog! HAHAHAHA. Magkatabi kasi tabs niyo. HAHAHA. Sorry for the joke. Hahaha
morethanscribbles said,
August 4, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Yes, and not just that (we’re driven by deprivation), we (women, accdg to our PA126 class) stick to brands for a lifetime. We are brand loyalists. Therefore, one negative comment from our peers may cost brands an advocate and a consumer’s lifetime subscription to their product(s). Because true enough, we won’t think twice about mentioning or tagging their brands on our posts- positive or negative.
Marie Valbuena said,
August 8, 2010 at 10:18 pm
Resourcesss… (and the sheer number of it) are just one of the many miracles provided by the Internet everyday. Nowadays one of the most valuable things to have with you on an interview are signs of an internet presence. I mean, what ever happened to the good old white piece of paper you printed to let interviewers know what they needed to know?
Companies and applicants can now find so much more about each other without much effort. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing. I mean, both parties in a relationship have to be open about themselves for the relationship to work right? With this in mind, and with Google out there, if it takes a good online profile to keep a good relationship going, that should definitely be the order of the day, right? Right! 😀
Lara Gonzales said,
August 14, 2010 at 12:32 am
Ah, cyber stalking. I love how this seems to give us more power than big companies. It can be creepy because they can easily get information from us and even track our activities online (hello, Facebook, hello cookies) but we still can write whatever we know about them and also have access to whatever information we can have. So yeah, I guess this is a fair relationship.
KC said,
August 21, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Isn’t it just amazing to feel like you really know a person only through his or her blog posts? 🙂
And Yayie, I have to agree with you that we can google companies more than they can google us. With privacy settings, it would be easy for people to hide the things that thay think would not be pleasant, but companies cannot do that, because their reputation goes beyond new social media. At the end of the day, it’s still the consumer’s words that matter.
blahblahblogsheet said,
October 2, 2010 at 7:49 pm
This is the prime reason why we should have tight privacy settings with our personal things online! We should be careful on what to share to where because we don’t know who’s lurking on the other side of the computer. Yes, I stalk too, and I know how much information we can get from this. Online resources can indeed damage our reputation so with that, we should be careful. 🙂
lstea said,
October 2, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Nice warning. If they can google us, we can google them. We’re still in unfair grounds because they have access to more things that we don’t. It’s been going around for a while actually. I learned about it from my mom who got freaked out when 3 banks sent her credit cards she never applied for. It became clear then. If we can converse with our peers, they can as well. What’s scarier is that they know more about us than we think… well, about or spending habits and things of the sort.
It’s become quite a scary world.