Do You Have a Google Twin?

The most popular search engine now has another interesting feature; you can find your Google Twin.

A Google Twin, or Google Ganger (pun on doppelganger, a literary term for someone who is the mirror image of one of the main characters) is the person you find when you enter your name in Google and see their information instead yours. That person shares your name, and is therefore your "twin".

People find their Google Twin by egosurfing, which Whatis.com defines as "looking to see how many places on the Web your name appears". (1) Another popular lead to GTs are those who enter their future date's name into search engines to make sure nothing unsavory comes up.

Lately, the trend has become a fascination: who is this person with the same name, and how does their life compare to mine? Geoff Mulvihill describes his feelings on Tahoe-World.com: "The thing about Google twins is that you don't set out to find out about them: You stumble upon them when you're trying to quantify your own cyberspace significance." (2) As Mulvihill states, an ego-surfer might be hurt by the one-sided search results (Mulvihill mentions that on Google images, the other Geoff Mulvihill's pictures comes up, and Mulvihill confesses "I try not to be hurt by that.").

Some people want to know more about their Google Twin, and strike up a friendship. Charlottesvillenewsplex.tv reported that Matthew Slutsky, a political blogger, actually contacted his Google Twin, and now considers him part of his extended family. Others find the experience off-putting, or even upsetting. AZCentral.com features an article in which an egosurfer became upset when she found her Twin. "It's like all of your attempts at individuality get swept away," Rebecca Roush explained. "I started to get angry at my Google Twin...What right did she have to be more popular than me?" (4) The article goes on to explain how to generate more hits than your Twin, giving tips like creating your own website, filling it with a lot of biographical information, and including links in the site.

The trick with finding your Google Twin is to put quote marks around your name: "Joe Smith", not just Joe Smith. Those with common names will find many, many twins, so you might want to try entering your full name, including your middle name or any suffixes (Jr., III, etc.). For people who have unique names and are sure they don't have a twin out there, don't be so sure; I have an extremely uncommon name, and sure enough, there's a Google twin out there who lives in another state who shares my unique (maybe not so unique) first and last name. It's a bit shocking to see someone with my name, but it could be worse...at least my Google Twin isn't a criminal.

SOURCES:

1 - "What is egosurfing?" Whatis.com. (http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci212040,00.html)

2 - "My Google twin" Geoff Mulvihill. September 13, 2006. (http://www.tahoe-world.com/content/view/405/36/)

3 - "Looking For Your Googleganger" Mark Tenia. October 24, 2007. (http://www.charlottesvillenewsplex.tv/news/headlines/10774086.html)

4 - "Me, myself and my Google twin" Lisa Heyamoto, McClatchy Newspapers. March 19, 2007 (http://www.azcentral.com/ent/pop/articles/0319googletwin0319.html)