Searching for Me, Myself and I

For others, the Googlegänger can be an object of curiosity, of comparison — an alter ego of sorts. Minnesota IT consultant Robert Fischer who had the misfortune of being 10 when Searching for Bobby Fischer, the 1993 movie about a prepubescent chess prodigy, came out. At the time, it made things awkward at home where his grandfather was training him to be a chess champ himself, he says, “and here was some kid who was younger and better than I’d ever be.” Today he introduces himself as Robert — never Bobby. And for good reason. Even still, it appears people are quite literally searching for Bobby Fischer: the chess champ has thwarted — you might say checked — Robert’s many attempts at upping his Google rank. “I’ve spoken at conferences, I’ve consulted in a bunch of places, and I’m an avid blogger,” the 25-year-old says. “After three years of posting my full name over and over and over again in my blog, I’ve just now gotten onto the first page of results for Google.”

Of course, having a virtual double isn’t always a bad thing. Maureen Johnson, a New York City writer, has many a-gänger: a realtor in Massachusetts, a crab lady in Cape Cod, a character in a sci-fi book and the character in the Broadway musical Rent, who breaks up with her boyfriend for another woman. Johnson enjoys a good laugh when her readers ask: Do you know there is a Maureen Johnson in the musical Rent? Was she based on you? “It seems to have blurred the line between fiction and reality,” Johnson says. “Google makes no distinction between who’s real and who’s not, so when Rent Maureen and I come up in a mixed bag of search results, we’re equally viable.”

That’s not always a bad thing — Googlegängers can bring real people together, too. Slutsky has befriended 42 other Slutskys on Facebook! And Fischer says his daily Google battle with “Bobby” has gotten him into a lot of conversations he might not have otherwise had.

As for Fairbanks, her name was ultimately removed from the explicit sites, thanks to pressure from her mother and a cooperative user support team at Google. But she was also a little sad to see her Googlegänger go.