Legacy

There is a Korean proverb that says "Tigers leave only their skins when they die, but through his achievements a man's name lives on." While it is not possible for everyone to have their biographies written, it is possible to have your name known for perpetuity through your digital footprint.

I once jokingly said that my bucket list contained winning a Nobel Prize; hosting Saturday Night Live; getting my own Wikipedia page; getting my Twitter account verified; and placing on top on Google search results for Brian Kim. While I believe the first four are infeasible for different reasons, I think the last one is achievable through investment of time and efforts.

With a nondescript English name, I chose to identify myself as hjkimbrian instead, which Google now thinks is a typo for the New Zelander singer Kimbra. Only recently am I beginning to realize the value of URLs and usernames containing briankim that I forewent. A relatively early adopter of Facebook and Twitter, I could have easily obtained briankim as my Facebook URL or Twitter handle, but I chose hjkimbrian instead to remain somewhat anonymous. As a result, when my name is searched on Google, the results that are relevant to me are buried deep in the pages behind numerous individuals named Brian Kim.



I have already set a few things in motion to start the ascent the top Google search result. My immediate next steps are to purchase domain names that contain my name, such as briankim.ca and briankim.com. These people are simply wasting potentially valuable and highly-contended brand name by keeping their website activities idle. Coincidentally, the owner of .com address is also the owner of many briankim usernames including Twitter, about.me and Pinterest. As a self-proclaimed web entrepreneur, he is not doing particularly a good job as his Google search result comes behind another Brian Kim who is a Ponzi Scheme suspect.

All of you Brian Kims out there, consider yourselves warned.

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