Ego Surfing is searching the Internet for mentions of one's own name, discussions of one's own content and opinions. It has become quite a popular hobby among those who think they are important.
Apparently, this ego-detection is a two hundred million dollar industry! A lot of people pay a lot of money to see their own names cited and referenced. I guess it is natural, but I am still shocked by the size of this business.
The biggest vendor of this space is not Google, but Thompson ISI (combined revenue for 2003, $7.6 billion, of which $200 million is from the "current contents" business). They have a tool that I'd call "Ego-Alert" that tells you whenever someone cites, reviews or critiques your work. Having a high-ego-factor (called "ISI Impact Factor") is very important in many vertical industries to get promotions, grants, tenures, and jobs.
Naturally, I was curious if a phenomenon analogous to being a "Link-Slut" (linking to other's pages with the understanding of a reciprocal link, so the ego-factor goes up) was prevalent, and unbelievably, it is! I have been speaking to many scholars and users of ISI Impact Factor, and they all said that's just the nature of the beast.
See Also:
• Opportunities in the
Invisible Web
