Spring Break
Find out who is googling your name with Ziggs
Kyle Kershner
Issue date: 10/15/08 Section: Opinion
If you've ever wondered if anyone out there is Googling your name, you're about to find out. A new social networking website, Ziggs.com, is garnering plenty of attention with its ability to determine who is Googling you, as well as what location they are from.
After people sign up, they choose a "Ziggs" name that matches their online screen name. After registering, every time someone looks for them on a search engine, Ziggs sends them a "search alert e-mail."
According to Associated Content's website, Ziggs allows people to "have a chance to participate on the Internet more safely." The Associated Content website gives an example of how Ziggs would be beneficial, separating itself from other popular social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook.
"If a user applied to a job at a specific company and a search originates from the company's office building, odds are high that a human resources person or potential boss was doing a search," the website states.
Ziggs also can tell you what keywords people were using to search for you, what search engine was used, where the search originated and what time the search took place, according to Associated Content.
This website has far too many downsides. First of all, how scary is it that people receive e-mails every time their name is searched for? Not only that, but the fact that it lets people know where the search originated from? That is potentially very dangerous.
Much of the intent of the site seems to be based on preventing stalkers, but there is also a privacy issue here.
Would we really want people to find out where we live? I would also think over a period of time people would get tired of the "search alert e-mails" that go out every time their name is searched. People might fear, or falsely assume, in some cases, that they are being stalked.
What if they have a common name? There are just so many questions that arise when talking about a social networking site of this nature.
One would think this is just the first step. We could be seeing more websites like this in the not-too-distant future, trying to one-up the other with features. Ziggs' intent is to make the Internet safer. At the end of the day, it doesn't achieve that goal.
Kyle Kershner can be reached at kkershner@statehornet.com
After people sign up, they choose a "Ziggs" name that matches their online screen name. After registering, every time someone looks for them on a search engine, Ziggs sends them a "search alert e-mail."
According to Associated Content's website, Ziggs allows people to "have a chance to participate on the Internet more safely." The Associated Content website gives an example of how Ziggs would be beneficial, separating itself from other popular social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook.
"If a user applied to a job at a specific company and a search originates from the company's office building, odds are high that a human resources person or potential boss was doing a search," the website states.
Ziggs also can tell you what keywords people were using to search for you, what search engine was used, where the search originated and what time the search took place, according to Associated Content.
This website has far too many downsides. First of all, how scary is it that people receive e-mails every time their name is searched for? Not only that, but the fact that it lets people know where the search originated from? That is potentially very dangerous.
Much of the intent of the site seems to be based on preventing stalkers, but there is also a privacy issue here.
Would we really want people to find out where we live? I would also think over a period of time people would get tired of the "search alert e-mails" that go out every time their name is searched. People might fear, or falsely assume, in some cases, that they are being stalked.
What if they have a common name? There are just so many questions that arise when talking about a social networking site of this nature.
One would think this is just the first step. We could be seeing more websites like this in the not-too-distant future, trying to one-up the other with features. Ziggs' intent is to make the Internet safer. At the end of the day, it doesn't achieve that goal.
Kyle Kershner can be reached at kkershner@statehornet.com
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