A Few Innocent and Not So Innocent Name Squatters

Before I get to the legitimacy of the WebTrends account, think about names from other large companies like Xerox and Apple. Pretty big companies. Yet when you head to some of the Web 2.0 sites out there, these are not official blogs/pages:
http://twitter.com/apple
http://apple.blogspot.com/
http://pownce.com/xerox/
http://www.myspace.com/xerox

While I am sure that Xerox or Apple could make a case that these accounts violate some trademark, it probably isn’t worth the effort and cost to pursue the issue in court. While some social sites discourage name squatting, harassment, etc. and may work with you to clear out accounts that violate their terms of service, not all squatters are harmful or intend to squat on your brand. If this HP account, in it’s current form, is any example, you might give some squatters the benefit of the doubt for the terms/names that they’ve registered like: “HP” which normally stands for “Hewlit Packard”.

But what would happen if some of these accounts positioned themselves as an official or real sources of information? One obviously fake blog, called “fake Steve Jobs” (Apple’s CEO) is an example where the tone of the blog is funny at times, but not too positive overall. If it didn’t say “fake”, and you weren’t paying attention too closely, could this be confused for a real blog? What about other fake blogs and fake web 2.0 accounts on micro blogging services like Twitter?

Above, an obviously fake Condoleezza Rice Twitter account.

And The Point Is?

So what’s the point in this post? There are domain squatters who pose as real sites in order to benefit from the popularity of real sites and typos. There is often a minimal cost for a domain name, web hosting costs, some small skill needed in setting up a web site, and other detractors that can serve as a small deterrent to those that would undermine your brand.

On the other hand, many of the Web 2.0 social networking sites are made for ease of use and this makes name squatting 2.0 pretty easy.

Action May Be Needed…

You may want to register names, brands, and trademarks that you own on services like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Pownce, Blogger, and others to help to preemptively curb some of these potential issues. Many of these registrations are free, so there is little to no risk in registering. You might even find that it is useful to connect to your customers through these non-traditional channels in order to improve customer service.

And if you need to sell your company on using some of these services in the first place, here is a good take on some of the objections and misunderstandings that can come up: A CEO’s Perspective On SEO, SEM, SMM, PPC, and ROI. Should you find that you are using some of these services, do be obvious about it. Put links to your official memberships on prominent pages, this too will help your site’s visitors (and even your own employees) in knowing which accounts are legitimate vs. name squatting fakers. Yes, the the WebTrends account was real . Now to see where it ends up on WebTrends.com… I’m pulling for either one or both of the WebTrends Resources or contact us pages.