Study: Googling oneself is more popular



Have you ever "Googled" youself?



More Americans are Googling themselves — and many are checking out their friends, co-workers and romantic interests, too.

In a report Sunday, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said 47 percent of U.S. adult Internet users have looked for information about themselves through Google or another search engine.

That is more than twice the 22 percent of users who did in 2002, but Pew senior research specialist Mary Madden was surprised the growth wasn't higher.

"Yes it's doubled, but it's still the case that there's a big chunk of Internet users who have never done this simple act of plugging their name with search engines," she said.

Americans under 50 and those with more education and income were more likely to self-Google — in some cases because their jobs demand a certain online persona.

Meanwhile, Pew found that 53 percent of adult Internet users admit to looking up information about someone else, celebrities excluded.

Often, it's to find someone they've lost touch with. But looking up information about friends, relatives, colleagues and neighbors also was common.

Although men and women equally searched for online information about themselves, women were slightly more likely to look up information about someone they are dating.

In many cases, the search is innocuous, done to find someone's contact information. But a third of those who have conducted searches on others have looked for public records, such as bankruptcies and divorce proceedings. A similar number have searched for someone else's photo.

Few Internet users say they Google themselves regularly — about three-quarters of self-searchers say they have done so only once or twice. And most who have done so consider what they find accurate.

Pew also found that teens were more likely than adults to restrict who can see their profiles at an online hangout like Facebook or News Corp.'s MySpace.



如今，越来越多的美国人在Google上搜索自己，还有很多人通过Google查找朋友、同事或约会对象的信息。

Pew互联网和美国生活项目在上周日发布的一份调查报告中称，47%的美国成年互联网用户通过Google或其它搜索引擎查找过有关自己的信息。

这一比例比2002年的22%增长了一倍多，但Pew调查中心的高级研究员玛丽•麦登认为增幅还不够大。

她说：“在Google上搜索自己的网民比例确实翻了一番，但调查同时显示，目前仍有很多网民从未用搜索引擎搜索过自己的名字。”

年龄在50岁以下的美国人以及受教育程度和收入较高的人在Google上搜索自己的几率更大，这是因为他们的工作有时需要在网上公开个人信息。

此外，Pew调查中心发现，53%的成年网民承认自己曾在Google上查找过除名人以外的其他人的信息。

在很多情况下，人们这样做只是为了寻找失去联系的人，但也有很多人通过Google查找朋友、亲戚和邻居的信息。

男性和女性网民在Google上搜索自己的人数比例差不多，但女性更爱在网上搜索约会对象的信息。

在很多情况下，在网上搜索别人纯粹是为了找到此人的联系方式。但有三分之一的人这样做是为了了解别人的公共纪录，如破产及离婚纪录等。另有相同比例的人曾搜索过别人的照片。

多数网民并不经常在Google上搜索自己——约四分之三的人称，他们仅搜索过一两次。多数人认为他们搜索到的有关自己的信息是正确的。

该调查还发现，与成年人相比，青少年更希望限制别人在Facebook或Myspace等社交网站查看自己的个人信息

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