Social Networking Land Grab
Erik Mazzone | Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 4:59PM So, maybe you are not yet a big believer in Facebook, Twitter, blogging or other mainstays of the social networking universe. I can understand that; spending hours messing around with a computer is not everybody's idea of fun, and there are certainly other ways to develop business for a law practice.
But here is a new reason to get involved -- at least a little: to avoid losing your identity in a social networking land grab.
There is only one www.your_name.com domain. Once it is gone, it is gone. Have you registered yours yet? Do you know how much it costs? About the cost of two lattes from Starbucks. Per year.
If someone gets there first and registers www.your_name.com before you do, not only do you lose the opportunity to build a presence there, you also can't stop the person who registered it from putting anything they want on the site. It is starting to happen.
What began as cute little jokes, like the Twitter account for Fake Steve Jobs, are now morphing into real trouble as internet ne'er do wells (trolls, in geek speak) start exploiting the power of social networking sites to really irk people. What do you figure would be the impact on your career of having a website at www.your_name.com that features, oh, say, pornography? Or a Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/your_name sends out consistent messages about your allegiance to the Nazi party. It can't help.
Once your name is gone, it is gone, and you really can't do much about it. Even if you are not pining away to post on Twitter or join Facebook or even to register a domain name, think about doing it defensively, if for no other reason. Just like all that stuff from law school, it can be used as a sword or a shield. It doesn't take long, cost much or require great technological sophistication and may save you a bunch of anguish in the long run.
Erik Mazzone
Protecting your name in social networking land just got easier.
There is a site called Knowem.com that, for $65, will register your name at 120 social networking sites to prevent becoming the victim of "Cyber Squatting." (Hat tip to Security Fix, a Washington Post blog about computer security.) For no fee at all, Knowem will check allow you to check if your name is already in use at the various social networking sites.
I tried out the free scan (it only takes a second or two) and it found all of my various social networking sites as well as a couple where my name has been registered and I have no recollection of registering it.
Check it out.
Reader Comments (4)
I agree with you completely. I've registered a bunch of domain names including those for my children. However, I wonder how far to go. Should I register .net or .org? What about .tv (which by the way costs $20 per year). There are also about a hundred other domain extensions for foreign countries. Seriously, how far do you suggest?
Lee ROsen
Along these lines, you may want to "claim" on Twitter any and all names that you use professionally(presuming that is the emphasis of your Twitter use). For example, I have set-up @TomLamb and @ThomasJLamb, there, and use each for slightly different purposes -- but real reason that I have both is so no one else can....
Tom Lamb
That's a good point, Tom. Thanks for stopping by.
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