Niccum: Googling oneself results in goofy, creepy info

I heard a tremendous amount of feedback about last week’s column regarding Pandora.com.

Most involved how being introduced to the online music service resulted in “my new obsession.” One person even said it “changed my life.”

Awesome. Glad to be of help.

So with that in mind, I thought I’d put my altruistic tendencies on the back burner. Instead, this week’s column is going to be all about me. And I don’t mean the royal we; I mean the royal me, Jon Niccum.

Ever type your name into Google just to see what comes up?

I have. Often.

I’m inevitably surprised by the results.

A quick Googling of “Jon Niccum” this week results in 28,400 matches.

And let me clarify, that of these 28,400 results, I can only find a few instances when it refers to another person with the same name – like that Michael Jon Niccum dude from Yakima, Wash., on Facebook.

Most of the matches to my name are the result of 15 years worth of articles flitting about cyberspace, everything from the Journal-World to the Village Voice to Esquire.

But then there are the weird ones. Some are downright creepy.

There’s me on www.whosdatedwho.com, the “dating gossip Web site.” It lists that I have dated only my wife, yet it offers readers a chance to vote on my top romance.

Well, that’s hardly interesting. Perhaps I should shake things up a bit with adding faux reports that I’ve been seen on the arm of Rosario Dawson, or Danielle Steel, or Lance Bass.

Then there’s the celebrity horoscope from www.ganeshaspeaks.com.

On this site I disover under the section “Yearly Report of Jon Niccum” that “This year should provide you with some time for gaining some understanding of yourself, and you are apt to spend a good bit of time in contemplation.”

Oddly enough, that advice seems to accurately apply to this column.

But to backtrack a bit, I have to admit that I didn’t know I was a celebrity.

Apparently my understanding of the term was incorrect. I always thought it meant “someone you might have heard of.”

Also popping up frequently on the Google landscape are all the other sites that have picked up past Net Worth columns. I’m not talking about Washington Post or anything, but places such as DailyMe.com, TheSportsKing.com and Kryptographik.ning.com.

This brings up an interesting concept: Now when I do a Google search on my name, results will appear about me Google searching my own name.

It’s a case of the snake eating its own tale.

And as we’ve learned from my celebrity horoscope profile, I was born in the year of the snake.