Bill Cammack

So I’m watching this video that was made by my Facebook friend, Meghan Asha and a couple of her homegirls,

and one of them says something like she doesn’t Google people before going on a first date with them so she actually has to ask all the questions…

HA! Later for that! :D This is the year 2009. Unless I meet someone randomly or happen to be introduced to someone on the fly at a party, like when Walt introduced me to Miko recently (whom I am NOT dating.. She’s just the first person that came to mind when I thought of people that I didn’t google before I met them), The *FIRST* thing I do upon becoming aware of someone new is check their Social Media or internet presence.

Facebook

Facebook is the first stop. I need to know right off the bat who our mutual friends are. Depending on how well I know the mutuals, that might be the only thing I check out. Also, if we have 40, 50 or 80 mutual friends, that’s way more than enough for me as far as checks & balances. As a point of reference, I have 402 mutuals with one of my Facebook friends.. I think that’s my maximum so far. Basically, there needs to be SOMEBODY that I know that’s heard of you or you receive a FAIL on phase 1 and it’s time for phase 2…

Next up is Google. As long as you have the person’s first and last name, you can most likely find out what you need to find out on Google. Back in the day, I used to date this gal named Sherry Smith. Of course, her father’s name was Jim, making him Jim Smith. In cases like this, you are SOL (**** out of luck). There’s no way AT ALL that searching Jim Smith (or Jane Smith for that matter) is going to bring up the actual person you’re looking for.

If you run into a roadblock like this, you have to return to Facebook and use their Search function: facebook.com/search. The good thing about this is that each profile has an avatar (picture) associated with it, so armed with their first name, last name and a general idea of how they look, you can most likely find them IF they’re on Facebook at all.

Google

If you’re successful, Google will get you all the links you need, specifically whether they have a blog or not, whether they use a picture upload site like flickr or picasa, whether they have a professional profile on linkedin, and you might even find their Google Profile, which is basically the jackpot.

From their blogs, you can find out what they think is interesting and/or important. You can find out whether you have things in common and whether they can spell above a 3rd grade level or not. From their picture sets, you can figure out what they focus on.. Themselves, Other People, Architecture.. It’s also another good way to see who they hang out with other than via Facebook pics (which aren’t going to be directly accessible anyway until you Friend them, which means it’s too late anyway).

Writing this in an explanatory fashion makes it seem like it takes a long time, but the entire process really takes about 3 minutes, tops. Now that I have my G1, I can google chicks when I excuse myself to go to the bar to pick up another brew! :D The goal isn’t to dig up dirt on people, but rather to achieve a point of reference. I know lots of people that don’t know each other and don’t associate across cliques. Once I see a few mutuals, I get a good idea of what crew they like to roll with as well as whom I need to contact if I want to find out if this person’s on the up and up.

Social Networking

So, Yes.. Most people that I speak to, as long as I knew ahead of time that I was going to run into them, I’ve already checked out their interenet presence and I greet them from that perspective. If I’m not aware of someone ahead of time, I have to rely on their IRL interactions with acquaintances of mine when I see them at the event. Why does this matter?.. Here in New York City, we have to make snap judgements. There are too many people and too little time. We don’t have the luxury like in the sticks to spend a lot of time with few people. Sometimes, when I go to parties, I never stop greeting people because 50-70 people that I know might show up at a large event like a MashBash. Fortunately, the G1 comes in handy AGAIN as I can friend people as soon as I meet them and get back to them the next day when a) I have time to casually contact people and b) I have way fewer alcoholic beverages in my system. ;)

What about people that don’t have ANY internet presence whatsoever? There are lots of these people and many that actively AVOID having any of their information on the net at all. I would have to say, for lack of a better way to put it, that I don’t believe them. I’m just not inclined to take anyone’s word for anything that I can’t check out with someone that I already trust to some degree. When Walt introduced me to Miko, I had never seen her before in life. I asked her “so… what do you do?”, not because I cared what she did to make money but to hear how she answered the question. I think Walt answered it before Miko did. The point is that the answer was immediately believable to me because it was something that Walt would have already known about Miko.

Checks & Balances

The fact that we meet so many people in this town and then never see them again leads a lot of people to be absolute BULLSHITTERS when it comes to their lives. One minute, a gal is single. Later that evening, she has a boyfriend. If she’s talking to a guy she REALLY doesn’t like, she’s engaged or married. If she wants attention, she’ll feign being a lesbian.

Guys act like they’re ballin’-shot-callin’ and their Porsche is in the shop. Also, their startup’s just about to get bought and they’re going to be rich, but they can’t talk about that because of the NDA. Everybody’s got an angle in this town and they’re always trying to sell you something. It’s just not believable without checks & balances from trusted sources.

So, not checking someone’s online presence before dating them? HAHA good luck with that! Let me know how that’s workin’ for ya! ;) In the year 2009, there are too many people that know too many people to date some rogue person you’ve never heard of before and can’t get any information on.

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um.. unless she’s FOYINE!!!, then all bets are OFF! :D

~ Bill Cammack | @BillCammack