Just Go Google Yourself!

"Only in very, very dark moments, moments of pure self-loathing, do I type my name into Google." - Reese Witherspoon.

When was the last time you Googled yourself, your family, boyfriend/girlfriend, friends, or even your latest crush?   I ask, "when" rather than "have you ever", because we've all done it. We are curious to know what will come up. In this day and age, we Google everything.  In fact, to google is becoming an accepted English verb. 

I admit, I have Googled myself. My name is unique. Not many people spell my name the way I do. I was surprised to see just how much my name dominated the results. Apparently, I’m a very talented sports/travel photographer. However, don’t be fooled. While, I like photography, that isn’t me.  I used to not come up until the second page.  However, since starting my blog and joining Twitter, my search rank has increased. But I recommend checking out the other Caryn's stuff. She has an awesome portfolio. But do be careful not to get us confused. It appears she is on Facebook and Twitter too.  I also found someone with my name in Florida with a felony charge against her. I don't want to be mistaken for her!

I googled Mr. Boyfriend and he is MIA in the cyberworld. He is a CPA and not active online.  When he has more professional accomplishments or owns his own company, I think then he would want to be found. But for now, it is better for him to be under the radar. For this issue, I think career industry matters.  In media/technology fields - I think it is important that something (positive) appears in the search.  Is it important for accountants, garbage men, government workers to be found?  Is it always a good thing for individuals in all industries to be searchable? 

Everyone has an opinion these days and there is just so much negative out there.  Robert Downey Jr. loves Googling himself. At the Oscar roundtable this year, he said, "some people overstate their support, like they know you. Other people are busy doing something else and just want to go on this chat site and say some despicable character assassination..." If I were a celebrity I would be curious, but probably hesitant to search for myself.  Ultimately, I think I would only sporadically search myself.  The tabloids say some crazy stuff. 

If you don't Google yourself, someone else will - Reasons to Google yourself:

• Professionally: Companies should Google their own Web site to identify and monitor any potential information that shouldn't be public.
• It is important to Google yourself before you start applying for jobs so that you know what your potential employee might see. Because let's face it, there is a good chance that they'll Google you.
• Personally: Never put anything personal, such as your social security number on a resume or on the Internet; not even temporarily.  It is scary when you find your own very specific personal information coming up. I have a huge problem with websites that advertise my address, phone number, family information and other private information without my consent. 
• Any information you find online, can also be found by hackers. We cannot take Google for granted. We search for anything and everything and so can the bad guys. Criminals can easily access our information with just a simple search. The internet is a playground for crooks.
• You might have filled out an online form and not realized the site was not as secured as it should be.
• There may be more of you out there, and he/she might have been in trouble with the law. Check out this crazy story about a guy wanted for murder.
• I read somewhere that you shouldn't stop after the first few search pages. Look at page 6 for the juicy stuff. (That's where I found my fellow Caryn with a felony charge.)
• If you find there are duplicate you's - you can change your online persona from Bob Smith to Bob G. Smith to narrow the findings.

What to do if do you find unwanted personal information on the internet:

• Try changing your username, sometimes this will change your results.
• If you do find information about you on a Website you don't control, contact the site owners to remove that data immediately.
• If the website will not remove it information, it is up to you to create and manage content on various other sites so that the undesired material will gradually fall lower and lower on the search results. But please note, this can be a slow process.

What happens when you Google yourself? Were you pleased or surprised by what came up?  If you were a celebrity, would you Google yourself? Please share!

Love, Caryn

A Simple Way to Add The Reply Option for Downloaded Blogger Templates

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Thank you to everyone who reads my blog and those who have left comments.  I cannot express how much it means to me.   It is you, my readers, that motivates me to keep writing and inspires me to continue to share my posts. Otherwise, it would just be like an online diary.  I am sorry up until now I haven't been able to reply to your thoughtful comments.  But that just changed!

One of the downfalls to Blogger is that it lacks a reply feature, as I am sure you have noticed. This is a serious issue because it is important for blog authors to be able to communicate with their readers.  So, for the longest time, I was really frustrated because I wanted to be able to respond to your notes but didn't know how.  Yes, I could put a single comment up below your comment but that did not facilitate continuing the conversation.  I Googled the issue and found some blogs that showed a hack around the issue. I thought, Yes! A Fix!  They all cited the same source code: "" in order for this to work.  The process made sense to me, but the problem was that the code did not exist for me.  The catch - my template is not a Blogger template but one by Theme Craft. This means my HTML comment code was different.  I knew I had to find another way to add this reply feature if I wanted to be able to communicate with you.  I had responded to one of the blogs that explained the process for Blogger to see if they could help me too, but I never got a response.  I contemplated emailing Markandey over at Markandey.com for his help, again.  His blog post on How to Add Tabs to Your Blog was by far the easiest and most helpful How To guide I came across on the topic. (Thanks again, Markandey!) He was beyond insightful and knowledgeable. We emailed back and forth and he took a lot of time to help make sure my blog was exactly how I wanted it to be. If you need blog help, I highly recommend you seek him out. Anyways, I didn't want to bother him again.  I wanted to try to fix this on my own.

Finally, a light bulb clicked this morning and I decided to check out Disqus. It is so simple! I set up an account, and TA-DA! It merged and transferred all my comments with ease and now I am able to reply to comments as well as be notified if someone responds to one of my comments. 

If you are having a similar issue, consider using an alternate commenting forum like Disqus.  It is Blogger compatible and easy to use.  All you have to do is sign up, link your blog to your profile, select preferences for your blog, and you are ready to rock and roll! 

Happy replying!




Love, Caryn

So What If I Can Be Easily Amused?

I sometimes find pleasure is the silliest things. Yes, I admit I can be easily amused. Here is a website I came across that kept me entertained for a bit.  Sometimes it is fun to forget all that is going on in the world and be like a five year old for just a few minutes.

My name as an anagram is "NERVY CLAY" or with middle names: "VERY LYNCH BEAT"

My boyfriend Jason's is awesome: "JOVIALNESS AND IDOL"
My mom Laurie: "REALLY, I'VE UREA"
My sister Stacy: "ENVY CLEAN STAY"
My dad Edward: "VELVETY NEW DREADS"
(The anagrams include their middle name, but for their privacy and safety I am not publicising that information.)


Yes it is pretty mindless and they make no sense, but amusing? Yes!  Please comment and share what you get from your name! Anagram your name here. 


ENJOY!!


Love, Caryn

Is (news) Ignorance Bliss?

Zite: Personalized Magazine for iPad from zite.com on Vimeo.

I remember when I was a little girl, my father used to sit at the kitchen table, with one knee bent horizontally over the other, arms stretched out, reading the Sunday paper.  While he was reading a particular section, whether it was Sports, Business, World or Local News, I would pick up a section he wasn't reading and mimic his posture reading the paper.  I would check out Tom Skilling's weather Q & A column, read my favorite comic strips or my horoscope, and scan for headlines that caught my interest.  When I had questions, we would discuss.  I'd read The Police Blotter to see if I knew anyone who was caught doing something so stupid, it warranted being written up and publicly humiliated in the newspaper. We would attempt to do the crossword puzzle together when we were done with the paper. I loved this time I got to spend with my father.  By time we were done, my fingers would have ink on them, and I’d leave evidence, accidentally of course, that I had read/touched the paper on the white kitchen table.  I also remember my Grandma’s hand written holiday or birthday cards she used to send.  They would always come with a newspaper clipping of The Family Circle cartoon.  That was her thing.

Fast forward to college where I studied Journalism.  I specifically remember being told the encouraging defeating lesson that newspapers are dying. The field in which you are studying to get your degree is dying.  Thus, by time I graduated, I was completely prepared for looking for a job outside of journalism.  I was aware that new forms of news were being created and that the Internet was quickly becoming/if not already had become the primary source for news for most people.

Today, my parents still get the Chicago Tribune and the local town paper.  Sometimes when I'm home, I flip through the pages briefly for any articles that might be interesting to read and of course steal the coupons. (Hey, I need to save all the money I can, trying to support myself isn't easy!)  Like most people my age, I don't subscribe to a newspaper right now. I get all my news from TV, the Redeye (local free daily paper) or the Internet.  I am not sure the percent, but I have heard that a large percent of the population age 18-35 get their political news from John Stewart.

Today, while watching Taxi TV in the cab on my way home, an ad came on talking about a new personalized magazine app for iPad users, called Zite.  It touts itself on being an intelligent magazine that allows you to customize and personalize subject matters.  Then it suggests topics based on your interests. That way you can read the news that only you care about. I am sure apps like Zite requires some effort on a reader’s part to set up the different topics of interest in order for the algorithms within to know what to recommend. My guess is that many people probably won't take the time to input all their interests and possible topics they would potentially like to read about. Thus, creating a limited amount of news for Zite to deliver. I would also bet that this kind of app, like fine wine, only gets better with time.

 I do not have an iPad so I have not had the opportunity to play with this particular app but Zite I know that it is not alone. There are many other sites out there, like Dailyme and News Republic just to name a couple.  I realize that many people get their news on their mobile phones and it is the latest trend to personalize your news. We already are an egocentric country, is personalizing our news so that we ignore anything outside our personal bubble really a good idea? Who does that benefit?

When I look at a newspaper, I glance at the page and scan for topics that I want to read about.  I might stop to read about the latest research on what pregnant women should avoid, or I might choose to read about the most recent developments in Libya.  But what if I hadn’t set up my personal news source to display articles on pregnancy? Because lets face it, that is not on the forefront of my mind because I’m not pregnant!  Or, what if I had not yet looked up anything regarding the rebellion? Have you ever seen a headline that looked so bizarre you just had to click on it? Or what about those random articles that sites like MSN have alternating at the top. One of today’s random headlines was titled 25 Weird, Wild Vending Machines. Now that was one wacky headline that caught my attention, but I never would have thought to add it to my my customized news source.  In fact, all these articles would have been overlooked on my personalized news source. 

If people select their own news topics and do not even have an opportunity to glance over other headlines, what will that do to our intelligence? Even glancing gives us an idea of what other news is out there, even if we don’t read the full article.  In general, as Americans, we look like dimwits when compared to people in other countries who speak two, three, four or even more languages fluently, when we can barely speak our own native language, let alone master a second language.  The basic fundamental knowledge that Americans lack is quite disturbing.  Have you ever watched the Jaywalking segment on The Tonight Show? Click here to watch The Best Of Jaywalking but be prepared to be appalled by your fellow Americans. It is rather pathetic that people don’t know things like who our first president was, who our current vice president is, what states border the U.S., who shot Abraham Lincoln, or what the D.C. in Washington D.C. stands for.  Maybe I am making an assumption that people, like those on Jaywalking, would even download an app that provides news. Perhaps they would be too busy with Angry Birds or Flood-It or watching shows like Wipeout? 

 The Internet is the grandfather of news selectivity. I admit I use it to get a large portion of my daily news. Call me old fashioned but I still like traditional news.  I like being able to scan zig zag from top to bottom, from page to page. In newspapers alone, I enjoy flipping through the different sections and selecting which news topic I want to read that day.  I like getting towards the end and reading the horoscopes followed by the crosswords and Sudoku, which I try to complete. I like the sense of accomplishment I get when I close the newspaper and know I finished reading it.   I know technology is advancing and changing how we receive our news and information. I know newspapers are struggling to stay afloat.  But I miss those days of cutting out articles, getting The Family Circle from Grandma, sitting with my father at the kitchen table reading, or seeing the news for the day in its entirety, and having the news given to me, rather than me customize it.

They say ignorance is Bliss. But we are only hurting ourselves when we are not aware of what is going on in the world around us.

How do you get your news? Do you think personalized news is a positive or negative advancement. Knowing how far we have come in so few years, how do you think we will get our news in 5 – 10 -20 years?

Hey, Will You Facebook Me?

I finally saw The Social Network this past weekend, on Netflix. I thought the movie was very well done, especially how it flashed back and forth between the past and the present.  I do not think it was worthy of Best Movie (The Academy apparently agreed with me) but it was an entertaining movie nonetheless. But I am not going to write a movie review today. I want to talk about Facebook itself.

I remember when Facebook first came to my university in the fall 2004.  The semester started and I began to hear little rumblings that this was the new "It" thing on campus. I thought, "What a silly website, this will just be a fad." I seriously questioned why people would want to document their every waking moment in detail, on the Internet, for all to see.  If people are friends, shouldn't they know what is going on and not need to read about it online? I didn't think people would care what Susie Q thought about her Econ class or that John was going to see a basketball game at Assembly Hall. (Mind you this was before we used the Internet for anything other than email, AIM, or researching and definitely before Twitter.)  I was told about the awesomeness of 'stalking' but I thought that was creepy. The four months that I protested felt like years, but eventually I caved because I was curious to see what all the fuss was about.  To me, putting pictures and personal information online seemed dangerous (and still does) so I was very reserved when I first signed up with my .edu account.

Through Facebook, we find out that “friends” are getting married, having a baby, that they like the latest pop song, or are moving away on our Newsfeed. I think the whole concept of a 10-year high school reunion has changed now that we have constant updates on the Internet, 24/7. Gone are the days of getting reacquainted at the reunion with people you haven't heard from in years, or being shocked that Lindsay married the guy in your English class, or even that Andrew finally accepted his sexuality. In some circles, a relationship is only "official" if it is on Facebook. We know about people’s lives without even talking to them! 

Jobs and College admissions We've all heard that employers use it as a tool before they hire/fire you. I know of someone who didn’t get the job in radio sales because he didn't have an online presence.  Even some colleges are using the website to recruit students. One Harvard recruiter said, "But when you’re looking at a tie between equally talented students, social media content could be the tiebreaker."  Jobs are one thing, but college admissions? Getting into college is hard enough; I do not think Facebook should be a tiebreaker. Kids worry about things like SAT or ACT scores, GPA’s, and whether or not they did enough extra-curricular activities.  Now students have Facebook to worry about, too? This article goes into more detail about this, so be sure to check it out. Facebook Profiles Are Now Part Of 80% Colleges’ Admissions Outreach

Facebook stripped us of privacy. It started when the creators made it open to the public and not just .edu accounts. They added a phonebook with our personal cell phone numbers, and then they sold our information to 3rd party vendors.  I disabled those features real fast. Facebook is open to everyone and anyone, so that means just about anyone can see your phone number?  This is a breach of privacy and violates our sense of security.  I should be able to control who has my phone number, not Facebook.  We, as a society, don't really think much about privacy until ours is personally violated. We are a generation of “it won’t happen to me” attitudes.

Photos - I honestly do not remember if photo albums were on the website when I first signed up, but I do know that I finally posted my first album in November 2005, nearly a year later.  The pictures we put up become property of Facebook. And even if we delete them, I heard Facebook still has the rights to the photos, or at least they used to. Speaking of photos, not everything needs to be uploaded. Yes, birth is a miracle and a beautiful thing. That being said, I think it’s okay to post pictures of your newborn but wait until it is cleaned off, wrapped up, and has bonded with mom, before you post the picture.  Mother-baby bonding is more important than uploading a photo to Facebook.  For more on Facebook etiquette be sure to read Linda's excellent post How not to be an asshole on Facebook.

Facebook's impact. Facebook paved the way for other inventions like Twitter, Foursquare and Farmville, just to name a few. It has changed the employer and employee relationship. It helped form the rebellion in Egypt, one person even named his kid Facebook!  It helps reconnect long lost friendships.  It is ironic because while Facebook helps some people “keep in touch”, we are not social beings anymore. We sit behind the computer and stalk, tweet or search. Have you been on a city bus lately? Everyone is looking down at his or her phones, iPods or Kindles. Our interpersonal, social, and communication skills are hurting.

If there is ever a time to admit I was wrong, this would be it. I was wrong, people! I could never have imagined, even in my wildest dreams, the impact that Facebook would have on society, technology advancements and even on how we communicate, or lack thereof.  Today, Facebook is even on dictionary.com. As you are well aware, common phrases like “Facebook me”, or “OMG, he friended (or de-friended) me!” are all part of our daily vocabulary. 

Can you remember life without Facebook? What was your initial reaction to it? Have you ever been frustrated and considered de-activating your account? What are your thoughts on this? Please share!

I thought it would be fun to share the first message I ever sent.   It was sent to a high school friend at another university.

Caryn Levy November 8, 2004 at 6:10pm

Hey! So people here have been nutty about this all semester, and I was like no way! But I gave in, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about! How r you?! I miss you! xoxo

Love, Caryn