Google Me: Do You Background Check Your Friends?

I’m sure many of you caught last night’s episode of Basketball Wives LA where a lot of the storyline had to do with the women meeting for the first time and essentially “digging up dirt” on one another to get a better feel of who they are. Sundy accused Brandi of stalking her because she took the time out to google her and found out some unfavorable things about Sundy’s daughter. Brandi on the other hand disagrees that it is stalking and says that she googles everyone. 

In the past we have discussed the importance of googling and researching potential prospects before getting into a relationship. With men posing as fake Ballers, emptying out women’s bank accounts and in some cases trying to kill you, you can never be too careful. But what about your friends? Do you do the same thing for the people you allow to enter your circle?

I will be the first to admit — I GOOGLE EVERYONE! Especially if we meet on Social Media, chances are I will run your name through Google. I don’t do it to dig up dirt on you but to see if you are indeed who you say you are. I’m not the biggest on the “birds of a feather” mentality but if there is something I need to know about you, I would like to know it before hand. In my line of work I have made friends with a lot of people that I’ve blogged about or will have to blog about in the future. A lot of reality show friends, a lot of friends in the entertainment industry, a lot of celeb friends. If at worst things were to hit the fan, I’d just like to be better prepared. I run your first and last name through google, I check out all of your social media pages, your Facebook, google images, might even see if there is anything about you on LSA. Again, not to dig up dirt, but to be familiar with who you are (or might be). One thing I have realized though, is that I never told the person I looked them up. Which leads me to my next question — would you be offended if someone told you that they googled you?

Let’s face it, we all have skeletons and unfortunately for some your skeletons can possibly be found with the stroke of a few keys on the keyboard. Would you take offense if someone said they looked you up prior to actually meeting you? What about if they asked you about something they found out about you online, would you feel that was intrusive? 

I’m not sure if there is a right way to tell someone that you googled them before meeting them. Some people prefer that if you have any questions about them, you ask them directly. But face it, we all know how people say things they don’t really mean. No one is comfortable discussing their dark past with a stranger. Sometime’s Google just does the trick.

In my personal opinion, it’s very important to know who you are dealing with in every aspect of your life. If you would Google your mate, why not Google someone you hope to build a friendship with? This person is probably someone you will spend uncounted amount of time with, share secrets with, open your home to etc. I would want to know the character of someone I choose to bring in my life and if that can be found on Google, so be it. Granted, Google isn’t the end all be all for me but it definitely opens my eyes to some things people won’t talk about on their own.

So sound off, do you Google your friends? How do you feel about people Googling you?