May 28th, 2007
Google’s Control Over Identity Is Nearly Absolute
Google’s control over identity really is astonishing. I received an email with this opening line, which I just assumed was some weird type of spam:
Eagerly waiting for Insomnia Media Group\’s web site to launch as Variety story caught my attention.
I’ve never heard of Insomnia Media Group, and as far as I know, I’ve never crossed paths with Variety. Just to be sure, I did a Google search for “Scott Karp Variety” and found this story:
Insomnia Media Group has expanded into talent management and tapped veteran manager Scott Karp to head its operation.
Karp broke into showbiz at WMA, followed by stints at Overbrook and Immortal before starting his independent firm.
So apparently there is a Scott Karp who does talent management in Hollywood. And the person who sent me this message, who makes reference to Publishing 2.0 and who I won’t embarrass by naming, must have done a Google search for “Scott Karp,” found Publishing 2.0, and just assumed I was the Scott Karp she was looking for. Perhaps she should have read the About page, but the trust in Google to provide the right answer is nearly absolute.
What’s striking is that, as far as Google is concerned, the other Scott Karp doesn’t exist. Nearly every result in the first Google 100 search results for Scott Karp is a reference to me, a reflection of the many high PageRank sites that link to me or mention me. Someone searching for the other Scott Karp would be hard pressed to find him — even with specific keywords like “Scott Karp Hollywood talent management,” other than that recent Variety article, the other Scott Karp can’t easily be found.
At least in the White Pages we were all on a level playing field.
Topics: Google
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It took me a few months to beat out Doug Cress - a famous, published, chimp expert. A little SEO goes a long way.
In fairness, “Publishing 2.0″ sounds close enough to talent management that the assumption was halfway reasonable. You’re both in the media business. It’s not like when people sometimes confuse me with a medical doctor who has the same name (so far, for nothing serious).
Seth,
If she had read my About page, only one click away, it says I work for Atlantic Media and live in Leesburg, VA. Clearly not the same Scott Karp. I think she made the mistake because she assumed that Google would give her the result she was looking for and she accepted it unquestioningly.
Scott, I sadly have too much experience that people don’t do one click. Heck, one of a my enduring blog unhappinesses was getting flamed by an A-lister where he wouldn’t do a SINGLE CLICK - just one single click - to read before flaming me to his huge audience. So I can’t attribute that to anything having to do with Google. It’s a human condition. There’s a big difference between “It’s right because Google says it’s so” (which is silly) and “This looks right, so I won’t bother to check further, even a tiny bit” (deplorable, but all too common).
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Google’s Control Over Identity Is Nearly Absolute