Google Alert

A friend of mine told me about this last night. “Every time someone mentions you on the web,” she said, “Google will send you an alert.” My first thought was, characteristically, dread. Why would I want that? All those alerts coming in all the time … it will be a distraction.

But then she pointed out maybe there’s stuff being said that I would want to know about.
“There could be a lot of people you don’t know about who don’t like you.”

So I changed my mind. Who could pass that up?

What a mistake. Now, I’m waiting. And waiting. And there hasn’t been one alert. Not one.
So depressing. I’m now obsessively checking my e mail to see who’s not talking about me.

I called my friend. “How long does it take?” I asked.

“Oh, right away. You’ll see. They pop up all the time.”
“How do you know?”
“That’s what happened to me when I put my name in.”

Maybe I didn’t do it right. So I took my name out and put in “Hillary Clinton” just to see what would happen. Before I was even done typing, there was an alert.

Now that I know it’s not broken, I put my name back and have returned to receiving nothing.
This can’t be good for my self-esteem. But I’m hanging in until I get one alert.
How long will it take? A month? A year? I’ll keep you posted….

Comments

[William]

Hi Ariel, what kind of alert do you mean?
Surely this can't be true as Britney Spears, Angeline Jolie, etc... would be receiving millions of alerts every day. Does your friend getting pleasure out of tormenting you?

[Rachel Reese]

I added a Google Alert for Rachel Reese (me!!). I get 100s of Alerts, BUT its for another Rachel Reese in the US!! Whats worse is she is have such a great time!!!!

[Livvy U.]

Hi Ariel
Well I don't know if this will do it but I came by to let you know, as a courtesy, that I am putting your blog onto my blogroll tonight. I hope that is OK by you. And that, maybe, just maybe that constitutes one fairly decent alert...
I have come to blogging, and your writing, late, and both give me enormous pleasure. It is sooo refreshing to find such a well-written blog.
With very best wishes
Livvy U.

[Annie]

Reminds me of that Oscar Wilde quote: 'There's only one thing worse than being talked about and that's not being talked about.'

[bendis]

i'm sending a "hi"to a person who has a knack for writing.i'm a new enter into english and u make me to will improving my english skills.i love ir style and i look forward ur notes

[William]

ARIEL!?!
Curiosity is killing me, have you had any alerts yet?

[Pete]

Kudos to 'BENDIS' for having a fine sense of humour.

[Woman Being]

Well said Livvy U, 'There's only one thing worse than being talked about and that's not being talked about' Yet when they do talk about you you want to know is it bad, what they said, how they said it, their tone, the innuendo's etc. It becomes something else to loose sleep over. Shakespear got it wrong 'To be talked about or not being talked about? that's the real question.