August 25, 2026 at 10:24 am

He Googled His Own Videography Business to Show His Portfolio—Then a Classmate Accused Him of Flexing

by Heather Hall

Guy showing his friend a website

Pexels/Reddit

It can be awkward when someone mistakes an answer for bragging.

One film student ran into that after a classmate asked about his work as an independent videographer.

Since he was already sitting at a computer, he searched his business name and pulled up his website to show everyone his portfolio.

A few classmates thought it was cool that his site appeared right away, but one of them took it differently.

Later, he found out the guy thought Googling himself was a weird way to flex instead of just opening social media.

Read on to see what you think about it.

AITA for googling myself to show someone my portfolio?

I’m an independent videographer and have my own side business. It isn’t huge or anything, but I make a decent amount of money, enough that I can live in a single-bed studio apartment and eat more than instant noodles alongside my student loans.

I’m in college for film, and recently one of my classmates (20M), “Steve,” who’s looking to get into videography outside of classes, started asking me if I had a portfolio, how it worked being independent, and what it looked like.

I don’t know Steve outside of a bit of small talk about sports, so we didn’t have each other on socials.

Rather than pulling up socials, he turned to Google.

A few of his friends in our class (20F, 24M, 23F) were surprised I had my own business and was an independent videographer and asked to see my stuff.

I could’ve pulled up my Instagram or something, but I was already on the computer and instead Googled my business name and the name of where we lived, and it came up.

I pulled up my website from there and let them go through it and have a look.

Now, he’s unsure if what he did was really flexing.

One of them said it was cool that I could Google myself, and Steve said it was probably because I had Googled myself before and that’s why it came up now. So, a woman tried Googling me on her phone and showed him my website came up.

I didn’t think anything of it, but the woman had showed me some texts she’d gotten from Steve saying it was weird of me to “flex” on them by Googling myself instead of being more normal and just showing them my Facebook or Instagram.

She reassured me she didn’t think I was flexing, but a few people since then have said that Steve and some of his friends felt like I was bragging.

AITA?

Eek. It’s always uncomfortable when things like this happen.

Let’s see how the readers over at Reddit feel about it.

This person does not see it as a flex.

Flex 3 He Googled His Own Videography Business to Show His Portfolio—Then a Classmate Accused Him of Flexing

This reader thinks his friends are behind times.

Flex 2 He Googled His Own Videography Business to Show His Portfolio—Then a Classmate Accused Him of Flexing

Yet another reader who explains how it’s not a flex.

Flex 1 He Googled His Own Videography Business to Show His Portfolio—Then a Classmate Accused Him of Flexing

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It really is how Google works.

Flex He Googled His Own Videography Business to Show His Portfolio—Then a Classmate Accused Him of Flexing

This seems like such a weird thing to get upset about.

They asked to see his work, so he pulled up his website and showed them.

There really wasn’t anything more to it than that.

If Steve took it as some kind of flex, he must really be insecure about himself.

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Heather Hall | Contributing Writer, Life & Drama

Heather Hall is a contributing writer for TwistedSifter specializing in internet culture, workplace conflict, and viral customer service stories. With over a decade of editorial experience in digital publishing, Heather excels at curating trending online discussions and providing insightful commentary on the daily dramas that capture the internet's attention.

Since beginning her career in 2011, she has developed deep expertise in SEO-driven digital content, having written for a wide array of publications covering lifestyle, business, and travel. At TwistedSifter, Heather focuses on synthesizing complex social media threads into engaging, highly readable narratives that highlight the human element of viral news.

When she isn’t analyzing the latest internet discourse, Heather is a dedicated mother of three sons who takes family gaming nights entirely too seriously—whether she is dominating in Mario Kart, exploring The Legend of Zelda, or jumping into Roblox.

Connect with Heather on Facebook and LinkedIn.