Group Skype Chat 21.02.17

'Google yourself'

After our group Skype chat with Paula on Tuesday the first thing I went away and did was Google myself! We were talking mainly about ethical considerations and Paula asked if we had ever Googled ourself and suggested we go away and do this. After all a potential employer could easily do this,  so it would be interesting to see what they would see.
So I typed my name into Google and wasn't surprised to see that not a lot came up! There was a link to my Facebook profile, which, when I clicked on without being logged in was very private (I have always tried to keep my profile as private as possible) And apart from this there was nothing else the came up under my name on Google. I do have an Instagram, twitter and YouTube, but I think because I have these under a different user name rather than my own name this is why they did not come up on Google.

We also spoke in depth about about social media and whether our social media profiles perceive us in a way we would want others to see.  On sites such as Facebook there are many types of users and if you do use your Facebook for business purposes  then you need to be even more aware of what you put on there and how you may come across.  Before the age of the Internet,  potential employers would look at your CV, previous employment and they might get in touch with your references and this is how they would form their judgement of you. Now with simply a name search on a search engine this can give people the opportunity to find out a lot more information about us than initially we might want to give out. However if you are always aware of what you post and everything you post something you think to yourself 'would I be happy for anyone to see this' and only post things after going through this process there would be no need to be concerned about what people might come across.  I think this is a process I will make sure I go through every time I use social media.