claim thy name on the web

Individuals and companies need to claim their names on the Web or popular social networks. This menial task could save a person or an organization a lot of headaches in future.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re an avid Web surfer or not; the potential for cybersquatters to co-opt your name or brand for surreptitious purposes is high. This is no secret.

But it’s not just a defensive maneuver. Companies, for example, may give up future sales and marketing opportunities by neglecting to register a domain name or social network page or handle.

Take Apple for example. As noted by blogger Hunter Walk on the Elapsed Time blog, the word Apple on MySpace, Twitter and YouTube was snapped up by others, leaving those that registered it to use the word as they see fit.

This leaves the company in a difficult position as it must now negotiate with the holder of the page if it wishes to hold the name in future. Apple could also contact the service provider as Walk noted in an attempt to claim the brand, a tactic that’s probably not going to be successful.

In any case, it seems counterintuitive for companies not to claim a name given the willingness of most to unleash an army of lawyers on a party that is deemed to have misused a brand or company in some perceived way.

It may also be a good idea to claim or buy names that closely your own protection of one’s own identity or brand on the Web is a priority.

Look at what happened to high-profile Twitter user Jeremiah Owyang recently. The profile of Owyang, who has approximately 37,000 followers, was closely replicated by someone, presumably a spammer. The hijacker I’m guessing wished to sell his or her goods or redirect traffic of those that mistakenly followed or went to the wrong Owyang profile.  The page was shut down by Twitter fairly quickly.

But it’s also incumbent upon the social network providers and Web hosters to better and properly secure the pages and information of their respective users. This hasn’t always been the case.

Take for example David George-Cosh, the ex-National Post reporter whose original Twitter page was hijacked after his high-profile tete-a-tete with product marketing consultant April Dunford last month. The hijacker played with George-Cosh’s original page for weeks before Twitter shut it down.

Say what you will about his conduct online, but Twitter needed to better secure his Twitter handle to help him preserve his identity on the well-trafficked social network. George-Cosh questioned the speed at which Twitter responded to his requests for help freeing himself of his impersonator.

How to make sure your identity is claimed if not protected? Most social networks are free so a company or individual shouldn’t have to spend more than 5 minutes on the network’s registration process. For those that wish to buy a domain name, the difference is the same though domain name registrars do require an annual fee, usually in the range of $10 to $15 (US or Cdn.)