Why Google Wants You To Google Yourself. The act of Googling oneself has become the digital age's premiere guilty pleasure — an activity enjoyed by all and admitted by few.
The phenomenon has even been the subject of scholarly research. Last year, a team of Swiss and Australian social scientists published a study concluding that the practice of self-Googling (or "ego-surfing," as it's sometimes called) can partly be traced to a rise in narcissism in society, but that it is also an attempt by people to identify and shape their personal online "brand. " The authors of the survey no doubt returned to their cubicles and Googled themselves to see if the study was posted online. (It is: right here.)
The folks at Google are well aware that their site handles millions of vanity searches every day, and that users aren't always thrilled about the results that pop up when they Google themselves. Facebook, MySpace Ignore Location On iPhone At Their Peril. Facebook and MySpace, the two largest social networks, eagerly launched new iPhone applications last Friday.
Both quickly shot up the top apps list. Apple has since turned off the download count feature, but Facebook is no. 7 on the free list, MySpace is no. 11. But while both applications are useful for heavy users, they won’t drive new users to the services because they failed to leverage the killer iPhone feature – location awareness.