New research from Pew Research Centre has found that more than half of adult internet users have used a search engine, like Google or Bing, to search for themselves! Don’t gasp and pretend you’re not one of the 57% looking for the results when you type in your name.

47% of internet users concentrated on viewing themselves on search engines in 2006 compared to a 57% in 2009; the ten per-cent increase in people searching for their own names since 2006 is a big jump. Online reputation has become increasingly important – in business and socially – to the extent that magazines, such as New Media Age; have a section dedicated to showing readers how to increase their online presence.

As social networking booms, it is no surprise that online searches for people and searching for ourselves are also escalating. More and more folk online are concerned about the effects of social media and what it can do for them. But is this newfound hobby a sign of the times that has provided us with a new tool for easily promoting brand/profile awareness or that we have become much more pretentious and self-aware of ourselves?