LookupPage Blog | Professional Web Presence and Visibility

Are Google Background Checks Fundamentally Fair?

You can call it the Google background check revolution and it’s happening right now worldwide. We are all somewhat familiar with this new form of background check that is putting our core philosophies to the test. Can we actively permit information which is often unreliable, contextual, and circumstantial to play a prevailing and decisive role in areas such as federal government, recruitment agencies, employers, colleagues,future employees, business, immigration, and justice departments? It is hard to resist the temptation of using the world’s leading search engine to search for information that would have normally involved human factors for decision making.  When we start using search results that are based on algorithms to substitute for our own cognitive processes in essential every day processes, then it starts to blur the line between human vs. machine.  The ethicality of Google checks which are doing more than just raising questions, are also starting to challenge the very core of issues such as ethics, rhetoric, aesthetics, privacy, and authorship.

For those of us who are self-assured that the web will find nothing to ‘testify’ against us on a professional, academic, or personal level, then think again. While the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) governs an applicant’s rights when scrutinized by consumer reporting agencies, many others are left unprotected such as illegal immigrants that are screened by businesses, or future employees who are never given a fair chance because of circumstantial information found on the web, or how Facebook is being used by employers to search an applicants background, or how law enforcements turn to social networks for incriminating information such as credit checks, criminal background checks and more. Recently, a three-panel judge ruled that it was okay to use a Google background check to rule against a previous federal employee. The list does not end here, and along with it are countless issues that are reforming the way we define our individual rights, privacy, and censorship.  The rules of how to use Google as a background check tool yet to be decided.

While we cannot always protect ourselves from public scrutiny or criticism, you can be sure of one thing - that there are effective means to ensure that you put your best foot forward in every situation.  At LookupPage we are focused on helping your promote yourself the right way on the web. We understand how information on the web can be disingenuous and misleading, and when it comes to your name or professional reputation, there are no chances to be taken. Your name and the information associated with it can either open doors of opportunities on many different levels of success, or it leave us blemished.  At LookupPage, we make your name uniquely yours and help you stay one step ahead at all times.

The New LookupPage Blog

We have recently changed the overall design of the LookupPage Blog.  You may take notice of the new blog image, sidebar content, and our “People at LookupPage” feature.  We hope these changes will make your LookupPage experience more enjoyable and interactive when reading the blog.  On a weekly basis, we will discuss LookupPage related developments and announcements.  We will also delve into interesting and compelling topics associated with LookupPage, such as: web presence, online visibility, professional identity, promoting your name on the web, people search, and much more. As part of our efforts to make LookupPage the best possible, we hope that you will share your feedback with us along the way. 

We value your opinions and comments, and look forward to sharing and collaborating together.  Feel free to write to us at any time.

Can Reputation Be Quantified?

Reputation.  Who hasn’t heard of it?  It’s a hyped up word that gets its plentiful share of spotlight in popular mediums including government, politics, finance, business, media, and social or professional networks.  Even former Federal Reserve chairman Alain Greenspan had something prevailing to say about reputation, “[…] competition for reputation becomes a significant driving force, propelling our economy forward.”   In other words, reputation really does matter and in a formal business world there is no place for hubris.   

When it comes to the reputation of larger businesses or companies, there is a common adage, ‘the bigger they are, the harder they fall’, which holds similar consequences for an individual’s reputation.  A failing reputation can be difficult to resurrect, but this article is not about reputation management or reputation restoration – it’s about building the right reputation for yourself from the very start.  Everyone already has a reputation, good or bad, but still has one.  The echoing question is: how do you make the most of your reputation?  Individuals can make the most of their name; businesses can make the most of the names behind their business.

A solid reputation is a powerful thing and has enough momentum to propel your name or business to greater lengths.   If you have a solid reputation, then when in crisis, you are granted the benefit of the doubt by your stakeholders.  For clarity purposes, from hereon we define stakeholders as existing or potential clients, customers, and employers.  If your reputation is perceived in a positive light, then even when mistakes happen, your stakeholders will grant you the opportunity to make amends and give you the breadth to grow and succeed.  Stakeholders that hold you in high regard can generate more capita and ensure your continued success through business opportunities, not to mention the power of receiving affirmative recommendations across a continuum of networks.

For the abovementioned reasons and more, there are tangible payoffs for maintaining a solid reputation.  Weber Shandwick’s Safeguarding Reputation™ research found that a noteworthy 63 percent of a company’s market value is attributed to reputation.  You can draw their own conclusions from these studies.  Nonetheless, reputation does accompany each one of us with either quantifiable results, or immeasurable benefits especially for individuals.

Here’s a glance at a Fortune 500 study illustrating that good reputation does pay as can be seen with America’s most admired companies:

So, while reputation may go a long way for businesses or companies, it can go to greater lengths for individuals.  While it may take a business many years to build a reputation, the beauty of individual reputation is accomplishing this feat in a much shorter time and with more ease.  The word reputation carries with it its own status of being difficult to accomplish and people are often wary and cautious of approaching the topic. Let's assume for a moment that you're in no need of a reputation management service, but looking for something promising to make the most of your name from the very start.  Which leads us to our powerful and innovative tool, LookupPage, which puts you on the right track and makes sure you stay there. 

Make the most of your name on the web with LookupPage, and ensure that you represent yourself in a positive and professional light at all times.   At a first glance, if people like what they see when they search your name, then you can be sure that you took the first steps to building a credible reputation.

Are We Really Cognitively Biased?

Many may argue that our exposure to the infinite amount of information on the web has the ability to make us a more a more knowledgeable, understanding, tolerant, educated, and coherent society.  But is that really true?  How does all of this available information, which is expanding at exponential rates, really affect us and our understanding of the world around us?  We are faced with the mounting challenge of categorizing, sorting, and organizing all this information so we can make some sense of it all so that generations to come can learn from it.  Google may be the universal leader in organizing information on the web – but that doesn’t necessarily lead to a universal understanding.

The growing question is:  Does all of this abundant information really change our views and preconceived notions?   Interestingly enough, the Centre for Health Informatics from the University of New South Wales researched if people experience cognitive biases while searching for information (in this specific case, medical information), and the results were quite astonishing.  The research indicated that people indeed do experience anchoring (maintaining your prior personal beliefs), exposure and order biases while searching for information.  Furthermore, these biases do influence the quality of decision making during and after the use of information retrieval systems.  With that said, the implications of this study are compelling as it demonstrates that while we may be often drowning in a surplus of information out there, we still maintain our cognitive integrity and are not so vulnerable to taking on different perspectives on any given issue. 

So if we are biased when it comes to medical information, can we expand it to a broader spectrum and say that in other areas such as politics, business, primary education, or even day to day life – we also experience a form of cognitive biases?  For now, we cannot quite say – but surely someone will research this in the future, and it would be interesting to see its results.

With all that said, we are all familiar with the phrase:  “First impressions are lasting impressions”.  Perhaps now, we can say that this old wives tale has some empirical validity to it.  When we meet people in person, it’s easier to form first impressions – which usually do form lasting impressions.  We can create or damper business opportunities based on the way others perceive us in the first few seconds of meeting us.  When was the last time you thought of the “impression” you leave on the web?  Can you really be so confident that when someone searches your name, they will have a positive lasting impression?  At LookupPage, we bear this very principle in mind – and that’s why we are confident that once you create your personal LookupPage, you won’t have to worry your about reputation on the web.   Think of your page, as your personal business card that goes everywhere on the web when someone searches your name.

The Common Denominating Factor

We all have one.  Most of us received ours by birth and carry it through our entire life.  It is an identifying factor for all individuals, carrying with it an ingrained reputation and a character that others perceive to form their notions.  What is this common denominator you may ask?  Our names.

Irrespective of whether you are a doctor, lawyer, engineer, designer, architect, programmer, plumber, sole trader, realtor, technician, self-employed, artist, businessman, banker, broker, financer, or whatever your profession may be – you can benefit from promoting your name on the web.

Names have made history.  Names have defined unforgettable eras, movements, and change.  But on the smaller scale of things, we don’t need to be iconic figures to promote our names.   We all face a fast-growing and unanimous problem of presenting ourselves on the web for who we really our.  Millions of people worldwide are googling their own name to check their web presence, and even more are googling each others names to search for information on a person’s professional background or history.   With this knowledge in mind, as individuals we should take the first steps to create an online presence for ourselves.  To protect our names, to promote our names, to represent ourselves as we would want others to distinguish and recognize us.  It’s our basic duty and we owe it to ourselves before others taint our names, which can often be irreversible, ruin people’s reputations, and destroy future opportunities.

With social networks, you’re just another person from millions of others.  With build-it-yourself type websites, you’re just another person who launched a site (with a lot more work on the horizon).  With business and personal directories, you’re just another person who is part of a service.  But, with LookupPage, you’re a self-proclaimed individual who has a professional web presence.  You are confident with the information that people see about you when they search your name on the web.  You are an individual with a web identity.  You are an individual with a real name.   Most importantly, with LookupPage’s autonomous tool, you are not reliant on anyone or any network, you don’t need to be a part of something, or just another someone – on the contrary, with LookupPage, you own yourself.