Kim Kardashian -- On Alert ... for Herself

Kim Kardashian likes to keep up with the latest news ... about herself -- actually subscribing to Google Alerts for her own name.

Kim was spotted Tuesday in Santa Monica -- BlackBerry in hand -- as she received the Google Alert. In case you don't know what that is ... it's a news service that alerts you by email when an article pops up on the Internet about a subject -- in this case, "Kim Kardashian."

In fairness, Kim's name is her business ... literally -- so it's in Kim's best interest to keep track of who's saying what about Kim and Kim's family.