What’s In A Name/Why Google+ Needs to Grow Up
August 30, 2011 
9 Comments
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” – William Shakespeare
The majority of the world has lately had to come to terms with the reality that your online name and your legal name are, in fact, mutually exclusive as far as Google+ is concerned. Choose one instead of the other and you, like well-known sex and tech blogger Violet Blue, may find yourself looking down at the smoking rubble of your entire Google Account.
Legal Name Aside
Not all of us use our legal name. In fact, most of us change our names either by choice or through some other life change at least once in our lives. This change does not change who we are. I am, and will continue to be, me regardless of the pseudonym I use or the name with which I was, however unwillingly, saddled at birth.
My parents, in their infinite wisdom, dubbed me Allison. My friends, in their infinite wisdom, dubbed me Allie. Me, in my infinite 8 year old wisdom, could still not come up with a name I preferred but gosh darn-it I hated Allison.
Most children in the American Indian culture had a birth name. As they grew up and reached maturity, the tribe gave them their adult name. People change. People change their names.
In some countries men take women’s names as their own. In Spain for example you get your mom’s last name as part of your last name.
Women have, for centuries, given up their family name to take up their husband’s last name to pass on to their son to carry on the family name. But her son’s daughter doesn’t.
Confused yet?
I Am That Is
Shakespeare is, without doubt, one of my favorite people. He could put you down with style, put you down, put you out of his misery and into a deep misery of your own, and make you feel all gooey. In the same play. Now that is social media.
But most folks don’t even know who he really is. We aren’t even sure there was a William Shakespeare. In fact, we are so unsure of it that people earn doctorates proving the most celebrated bard in history really went by the name Shakespeare. Or didn’t.
In today’s modern age, an online name can be a passing fancy. For several days in a row I went about as PhantomOfTheOpera. I even had a Juno email account to go with it. I was 14. So sue me.
When I was 21, I became Sarcasmsvoice. And for years, I stayed the course, became known to most of the world as Sarcasmsvoice and then eventually left the name due to someone, ironically, stealing my identity.
I then went on to become SVallie. The SV standing for, you guessed it, SarcasmsVoice. Old habits die hard, what can I say?
When I went into Pro Blogging, I realized that to ever truly make a name for myself I’d have to use my real name for my real brand.
Online Is Life
In June of this year (2011), the United Nations declared that the internet is now considered to be a human right protected by international law.
The Special Rapporteur calls upon all states to ensure that Internet access is maintained at all times, including during times of political unrest. In particular, the Special Rapporteur urges States to repeal or amend existing intellectual copyright laws which permit users to be disconnected from Internet access, and to refrain from adopting such laws. – Wired.com
One of the reasons for this law? Because so many governments were tracking people down [read that as dissidents], jailing them, and cutting the rest of the country off from international support. But the dissidents weren’t using their real names. The majority of people online do not use their real names.
It is safer not to do so. Not when you have sites like Peekyou.com that can find intimate details all over the web when attached to a name. There is a fear of identity theft, being robbed, being harmed by an ex, being stalked, being killed, and being imprisoned for the right to speak your mind or for less honorable reasons.
Does any of this make having a name that is other than your legal name necessary? You bet your booties it does. And for Google to sit on its high horse and tell us all that we do not have the right to protect ourselves, our identities, and our vision of who we are because we don’t put down the name we were given is to derail so much of what it means to be an individual.
To The Authors
Many self-published authors rely on Google accounts. They need the Docs, Calendar, email, and social networking sides of Google. But Google has forced much of the tech-forward world to ponder whether the risks out weight the convenience.
Do yourself a favor and begin weaning yourself from Google. Even more so if you use a Pen name. That is not to say this issue will not be resolved, but a social media account by any other name may smell just as sweet.
Image courtesy of Sean
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I agree with you. i see a lot of people loose account with google over this. If you use real name for account then onlin nam for websites or blogs what does it matter. some people do not want everyone to have thier personal info all over the internet and i can see no reason you can not use alias or screen name instead.
joe recently posted..Best oil stocks exxon mobil
Just to play devil’s advocate, Google is taking a hard line most likely to make sure they are not spammed by thousands of sock puppet accounts. Spend even a little time on Digg in the US political stories, and you will know how easy that is to do with pseudonyms. And spend a little time on any webmaster forum and it is clear to what degree people are eager to go just to boost their Google rankings.
Yaaa… u r quiet right.. But first time i am reading such things things against google..For me Google tools are very helpful..
I think Google will get good response in Google+ and will lead Social Media Market in near future.
Twitter: reneepawlish
August 31, 2011 at 9:47 PM
Boy, what a great article, and I agree, don’t rely on Google. I’ve had issues with them over Adwords, and they are not helpful, they just want your money.
Twitter: AllisonDDuncan
August 31, 2011 at 10:35 PM
After some new news I discovered yesterday, I’m thinking that this might be the first in a list of articles about the Google Gone Bad.
Thanks for reading!
Allison
Allison Duncan recently posted..Flip This Zombie by Jesse Peterson
hey Allison, i totally understand. Although I love some of Google’s Tools, i have been telling people for years not to become reliant on them for your business.
I see so many people putting all their eggs in the Google Basket then getting mad at Google for their stupid rules.
James recently posted..How to Write Articles That Please Google, But Don’t Suck
Twitter: AllisonDDuncan
August 31, 2011 at 1:23 AM
James,
I’ve had to deal with this and come to terms with the whole “step away from the google” scenario myself. For the last 3 years I’ve become a google-phile. If it was a google Product, I probably have tried it.
The real tragedy is that Google has set the bar very high for ease of use and accessibility. It’s hard to find anything else that feels so right.
And yet, we must unless they change their practices.
Thanks for reading!
Allison recently posted..Self Publishing Does Make It Easy – But What Is Wrong With That?
I know what you mean. They do have some really great tools,and it makes it a lot easier to get higher rankings, and more traffic.
I have tried their tools myself, and I love using them. However, being reliant on any one system gives them too much control over your business.
I know too many people that would be bankrupt if Google went under (although I don’t see that happening).
For me,when I first started out, I spent months on SEO, and finally got my sites ranking in Google. Then, one night they made a change, and all my work was down the toilet.
After that, I realized that I was too dependent on them, and they had too much control over my business, so I started focusing on alternatives. The funny thing is that my rankings have improved and been more stable ever since then, even through the massive changes (Panda barely made a blimp on my traffic…)
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