So I found out about Google Alerts this weekend (http://www.google.com/alerts).  Really useful and interesting concept – you can be “alerted” whenever a certain word or phrase is listed on google.  Although a lot of people probably use this as a way to capture news about things – maybe they would list “iphone 5s” for example, you can also use it for a more personal motive.  If you put your name in quotes, “Jane Doe” for example, google will send you an email whenever that comes up online.  So……… if you are interested in just how private your life really is, I would encourage you to set up an alert or two.  I set mine up for “Firstname Lastname”, “First Middle Last” and “Nickname Lastname” (but my actual name in there).  Already it send me an email linking straight to my pinterest account.  EVEN though my settings were “do not show up in search engines” on Pinterest, it was clear as day listed on google!!!  So I went in there and took out my last name on Pinterest, so now it is just listed as “Becca”. 

If you are slightly paranoid about your online identity, and maybe have any crazy stalker exes, or are job-hunting, I would definitely reccommend trying this out!!

PS – You don’t have to have a gmail account, but I think it works best with it.  Just saying.

Hope this helps!