Brand NAME

Okay, a very interesting discussion is brewing here. I was walking around the office (it's called management by walking around and its a real thing) and we started talking about our frustrations getting our names from Facebook.

Just in case you are unaware of what's happening, let me explain. This past Friday night at midnight Facebook started allowing users to register their own names. This means you can now have an easy-to-remember url to drive people to your Facebook profile.

This has always been an issue for me since I have such a common name, Jeff Jones. I was smart enough to get my own name as a domain, jeffjones.com, more than a decade ago, before blogs, Twitter, and even Facebook. But now it's not as easy for two very important reasons. First, most people are online and understand the importance of a simple url. Second, and this one's a surprise, I can't stay up late anymore.

As I was laying in bed, laptop on belly, waiting for my iPhone to click over to 12:o1 am, I fell asleep at 11:00 pm. I woke up long enough to set it aside the computer, deciding to get up early and get my name. Alas, I was too late to get jeffjones and had to go with a variation. This is not unprecedented, my AIM handle is one thing by Skype name is another, my LinkedIn profile is still another etc., etc. I have a total of 7 different variations of my name or nickname on different social media. This is frustrating.

So here's the solution. From this point forward, future moms and dads must realize the importance of personal branding. Name your kids with a unique name that no one else will pick. I suggest using a strong password generator like the one here. I'm thinking about going with Jeff v22&O'3 or maybe j243"\X Jones. What do you think?