Where will you be at midnight tonight?
May I suggest that you may want to consider being at your computer at that time?
Why? Because Facebook has something going on at that time that is vital for you personally and your business that's far more important than sleeping ever will be!
As a PR person and marketer, you know the power of branding and controlling your brand name.
Tonight at midnight, Facebook is staging one of the greatest branding grabs ever - giving the opportunity to own your own name on Facebook.
But, you say, I already have my name on Facebook. But, what's key here is not your name, it's your URL.
Every time you want to send someone to your Facebook profile or page (remember profiles are your personal section on Facebook, pages are your business side, and you can have unlimited numbers of pages) you currently have to send them to a URL that looks something like this:
www.facebook.com/people/Your-Name/52446540 (That's an inactive URL, BTW, so don't click it.)
Wouldn't you rather be able to send them to www.facebook.com/yourname ?
That's what's Facebook is making possible tonight - the ability to own your own name, or more importantly, your company or brand name on Facebook.(Can you imagine someone else owning your brand name on that vital site?)
And the fact that Facebook's making this a first come first served situation, this is why it's also vital that you're awake and at your computer tonight, who needs sleep anyway?
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Actually, it's midnight Eastern US time. So, if you're hanging out today on the West Coast, your time is 9:00 pm.
Here's what to do. Tonight at midnight US Eastern time, login to Facebook then go to http://www.facebook.com/username where you will find a form. It will give you several suggested usernames, and the ability to choose your own. Either choose one of the names suggested or type in your own.
Repeat this process with any Facebook Pages that you are the administrator of (or have whomever is your administrator do it for you.) There are several conditions for pages that don't apply to profiles though. First, you need to have had at least 1000 page fans as of May 31st, 2009. Second, you can't acquire generic terms like travel or insurance (ChicagoInsurance is fine, but not Insurance), and third, you can't get someone else's registered trademark.
In face, if you have a registered trademark, Facebook has a way to protect yourself by filling out this form, http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=username_rights
I suggest you go there right now, before the land rush starts.
If someone else has already has your name, get creative - add a number, a period, or a dash, shorten it, or lengthen it.
I'll be there at midnight, and I suggest you be there too.
And bring a book, because with a couple of hundred million people trying to score their name, the page refresh times may be really sllllloooooowwww.
Just go do this stuff!
Don Crowther
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