About two months back I noticed an unusual amount of "mentions" on Twitter of my name. For those of you not familiar, mentions are references to your name on Twitter and are followed by messages. Well, I have been getting dozens of them at a time referencing a robot skeleton. What? There has been nothing in these messages of my recruiter training or sourcing work, no reference to my recent mobile presentations, no talk about my HR field at all. Just robot skeletons.
Messages have ranged from questions, to amusing comments to blatant insults. Originally I brushed this off thinking it was a mistake, a joke or just spam in the Twitter community. But after hundreds of these messages amassed on Twitter, I did some investigating of my own. A quick Google search was all it took. I discovered that Craig Ferguson and CBS had chosen my name, Geoff Peterson of all names for a robot sidekick comedy gag on The Late Late Show. CBS is now using my name with accounts set-up on Twitter, YouTube and other social media outlets online to benefit the Craig Ferguson show. This has all been too ironic for me, in that the name is spelled Geoff (the uncommon way to spell it) and not Jeff, the fact that the robot has a last name (my last name Peterson) and that the robot has a spiked mohawk (I have a spiked haircut). Coincidence?
There are plenty of people currently building great online brands, personas and reputations for themselves with the help of the Internet and social media. Dan Schawbel is a perfect example of someone that comes to mind. Google his name. You won't find any confusion there over who he is. Dan is a personal branding expert. When you Google my name, there is plenty to be confused about now that my name is associated alongside a robot comedy gag on Craig Ferguson's late night show on CBS.
Some of you may be thinking that I must be reaping the rewards of extra search online and huge gains of traffic to this website. This couldn't be further from the truth. My name is getting buried online, practically erased by CBS. When I used to check my name on Google (and this a good practice for anyone to protect your name) my name used to appear in the top search results. Most of the time, my website, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook accounts all showed up in the top 10 first page Google search results. Over the past month, my name and personal brand, which I've worked hard to build over 10 years has been smeared by CBS in a matter of a few months. Check for yourself on Google or look to Twitter Search and see. My name is now taking a back seat to a late night show robot comedy bit. You always hear about online or digital identities being stolen, but don't think much of it until it happens to you. Well I'm thinking about it now!
CBS: I'm asking that you drop the name Geoff Peterson for Craig Ferguson's robot sidekick, choose another name altogether, or simply just call him Geoff.
[ This post entitled Will the Real Geoff Peterson Please Stand Up? is filed under news and originated by the blog of recruiting leader and sourcing consultant Geoff Peterson. ]
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Comments (4)
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written by Lisa, May 05, 2010
Sorry to hear you are being negatively impacted by this. So random that they chose your name. I attended one of your snackable trainings about a year ago, and in 30 minutes learned some great tricks I use to this day (a la LinkedIn/Jigsaw). Thanks for the great info, and hope things subside so that your real persona can re-emerge.
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written by Paul Fritz, May 06, 2010
If you don't mind me asking these questions...
1. Have you contacted CBS directly about this issue yet?
2. Have you contacted a lawyer about your legal course of action?
I'm sure it'll probably end up being more hassle than it's worth, but it's what I'd do in this situation, and I think it's worth investigating.
1. Have you contacted CBS directly about this issue yet?
2. Have you contacted a lawyer about your legal course of action?
I'm sure it'll probably end up being more hassle than it's worth, but it's what I'd do in this situation, and I think it's worth investigating.
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written by bhlombardy, May 09, 2010
Although I can empathize with your situation, to be blunt, you dont "own" the name... just like I don't own my name. It's not like you've labelled yourself a marketable trade name like "Madonna" or "Sting" or "Meatloaf". It's Geoff Peterson.
Your name is spelled Geoff, to be sure, but it's hardly unique nor uncommon. I know at least half a dozen people who spell Geoff that way. In fact, believe it or not *I* also know a Geoff Peterson, who isnt you, from my university days... (which is how I stumbled upon your site in the first place)
Unfortuntely, if you try to fight it, you wont have a legal leg to stand on. It's merely the monicker with which you've been labelled, but it's not a registered trade mark. It's reasonable to assume someone else will have the name... real or fictional... just like the character Elizabeth Weir on Stargate Atlantis has the same name as a real-life Eastern Canadian politician... or how Dr. James Wilson on House has the same name as a real-life contractor in North Carolina.
Point is, the fact that Ferguson or CBS randomly chose your name for a character is just that, a random selection. It could have just as easily been "Jason Henderson" or "Steven Adams" -- which would have intruded on those people's names.
It's not like CBS has stolen your identity and is robbing banks and murdering women and children on your behalf... nor are they pretending that it is in fact "you" that they have you on stage on each episode of the Late Late Show.
It's the name of a fictional character on a TV show. I'm afraid that's all it is, and you'll have to accept it as a coincidence.
As for the search results on Google... well the popularity of a TV show's character, when searching on Google, is going to garner far more hits than someone else's personal blog or small business. It's just the way it goes because that's what people are looking for and those hits move up in ranking in the search queue.
Again, unless you can prove CBS's ill intent to ruin your search hits in Google, which is highly unlikely the case, then you'll have to chalk it up to unfortunate coincidence.
Your name is spelled Geoff, to be sure, but it's hardly unique nor uncommon. I know at least half a dozen people who spell Geoff that way. In fact, believe it or not *I* also know a Geoff Peterson, who isnt you, from my university days... (which is how I stumbled upon your site in the first place)
Unfortuntely, if you try to fight it, you wont have a legal leg to stand on. It's merely the monicker with which you've been labelled, but it's not a registered trade mark. It's reasonable to assume someone else will have the name... real or fictional... just like the character Elizabeth Weir on Stargate Atlantis has the same name as a real-life Eastern Canadian politician... or how Dr. James Wilson on House has the same name as a real-life contractor in North Carolina.
Point is, the fact that Ferguson or CBS randomly chose your name for a character is just that, a random selection. It could have just as easily been "Jason Henderson" or "Steven Adams" -- which would have intruded on those people's names.
It's not like CBS has stolen your identity and is robbing banks and murdering women and children on your behalf... nor are they pretending that it is in fact "you" that they have you on stage on each episode of the Late Late Show.
It's the name of a fictional character on a TV show. I'm afraid that's all it is, and you'll have to accept it as a coincidence.
As for the search results on Google... well the popularity of a TV show's character, when searching on Google, is going to garner far more hits than someone else's personal blog or small business. It's just the way it goes because that's what people are looking for and those hits move up in ranking in the search queue.
Again, unless you can prove CBS's ill intent to ruin your search hits in Google, which is highly unlikely the case, then you'll have to chalk it up to unfortunate coincidence.
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written by Dan S., July 03, 2010
For what it's worth, I Googled the name "Geoff Peterson," and this website topped the list; so I guess things aren't as bad as they seem.
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