Googling Mikaela Remes

So I used Google to find myself. As you can see in the picture below, in a sidebar, Google immediately informed me that I’m a student at Uni Helsinki, and tried to seduce me into filling out my profile information on Google+ (which I’m actively trying to avoid, but turns out that Google has created a profile for me without asking).

There doesn’t seem to be other people with my name, since Google actually manages to find the right person immediately. The first hit naturally leads to my Facebook page, which is rather uninteresting, if you are not a friend of mine. You can only browse my profile cover photos, which suggest that I like cute and colorful things and alcohol. And that’s not a lie.

The next hits are related to work: my LinkedIn profile and my personal portfolio/homepage in Swedish. On LinkedIn you get to know that I’m a freelance journalist and translator, you see my CV and a picture of me where I try to look friendly. On my home page you’re being bombarded with all kind of information about me; you can get a short version of my life story, you can view academic and published work etc. You’d have to be really obsessed interested to read everything. The pages leave you with the impression that I want to communicate a professional and ambitious image of myself.

The following Google hit is an article from last year, discussing globalization, which wasn’t super good, but hey, it has a prestigious title. Followed by an empty profile on YLE’s, (the public broadcasting company) web page, which I didn’t know existed. It just displays my name, so you can’t really tell what I’m doing there. I also seem to have a profile on SlideShare (probably since I’ve downloaded some presentation), followed by hits on a personal search engine, with no proper information. The next link leads you to a news piece from last autumn, about me being chosen as an editor for a magazine published by uni. And finally, a profile on something called Chillweek.com, which I didn’t know existed either. It says I’m going to attend Justin Timberlake’s concert in May. (It also told me that my connection to the page timed out in Estonian…) And as a contrast to the professional image I obviously want to project on other social media, Chillweek has obtained an old profile description from somewhere: “bubbly, overenthusiastic, a bit silly, very curious, sometimes annoying and always all over the place.” Still works!

I was kind of hoping to find something interesting, but at least I discovered some previously unknown profiles. I seem to be in control of my internet appearance, what a relief!