egosurfing

Meanings

1. 1noununcountableinformal

   The activity of searching the internet for your own name to see what is written about you.

   Grammar: Used as a mass noun with a singular verb: 'Egosurfing takes time.' It is not used with 'a' or in the plural.

   Patterns

   • do some egosurfing
   • a bit of egosurfing

   She spent her lunch break doing some egosurfing to check her new job title appeared online.

   Egosurfing can be fun until you find an old photo you had forgotten about.

   He admitted that egosurfing had become a daily habit after his first book came out.

2. 2noununcountableinformal

   The results or practice of checking how often your name or work appears in search results.

   Grammar: Still uncountable; often used after 'of' to talk about a particular search: 'a session of egosurfing'.

   Patterns

   • a session of egosurfing
   • the results of egosurfing

   A quick session of egosurfing showed that most results were about a different person with the same name.

   The results of his egosurfing were mostly positive reviews and one confusing news article.

Common combinations

do some egosurfing

I did some egosurfing after the interview to see if the company had mentioned me.

a bit of egosurfing

A bit of egosurfing is harmless, but doing it every day seems a little vain.

admit to egosurfing

The actor admitted to egosurfing whenever a new film was released.

stop egosurfing

Her therapist suggested she stop egosurfing because it made her anxious.

regular egosurfing

Regular egosurfing helped the freelance writer track which articles were being read.

Synonyms and how they differ

self-Googling

Very close in meaning, but it names the search engine directly and is often used as a gerund: 'self-Googling is common.'

name-checking

Different: this means mentioning someone's name, not searching for your own online.

Word family

egosurf verb

To search for your own name online; used without an object: 'He egosurfs every morning.'

egosurfer noun

A person who regularly searches for their own name online.

Commonly confused: egosurfing or ego surfing?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “egosurfing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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