Here’s my latest column on Scanorama, the SAS in-flight mag.

Google me, I know, I do.
According to a recent study, 47 percent of adult American Internet users have looked for information about themselves through Google or another search engine.

Sounds almost suspiciously low. I know I’ve done it.

You can google me, and you’ll find me. There’s my personal website, my blog, another blog, some articles I’ve written, a Wikipedia entry, my book site, and my LinkedIn page. Among other things.

Five years ago, it was cool to just find yourself on the Web. Not anymore. Now, I like googling (that’s, ”searching information about myself using the Google search engine”) myself to see how many pages I have. I dominate ”risto+pakarinen” on Google. The first two pages are all about me.

And since it’s all pretty much content that I have either written myself, or at least have the chance to control, I love it. No hate sites, thank you.

Looking up information about others is not that unusual, of course. We all do it. We all Google our friends, colleagues, and new acquaintances. According to the same study, 53 percent of adult American Internet users say they do that. And celebrities, people not like me, are excluded in that figure.

My next step, of course, is to look at the visitors stats on my website, and see who finds me there, using Google. Then it’s time to put on the detective hat: ”Aha, somebody from the New York Times has Googled me and visited my site … I wonder why.”

That’s how I spend my days. Searching for information of myself, and of those who search information of me. It’s a miracle I ever get anything done.

Of course, I have to. I have to fill Google with new stuff to search for.