Facebook is one of the world’s largest social networking web sites with over 200 million active users. It now has over 1 billion messages sent a day through the application. On June 13th Facebook announced that its users will be allowed, for the first time, to create personalized usernames (URLs) or "brands" for their Facebook pages (facebook.com/yourbrand). Users will be allowed to choose their username on a first-come first-served basis.

Facebook gave brand owners a short period of time to block their trademarks from use via an online form. However, due to the short timeframe, many trademark owners probably failed to submit their form by the deadline. Three million users took advantage of the option within the first 12 hours of availability.

However, patent firm Marks & Clerk's managing partner Campbell Newall told the Scotsman newspaper that companies should log on to check that their trademarks and brands are not being used.

The expert pointed out it was important for companies protect what is theirs "to avoid third parties 'squatting' on their intellectual property". He said Facebook is now more than social networking as it has become an avenue for commercial activity. Mr Newell added a number of enterprises have already become proficient at using the site for business purposes.

Companies can apply to stop others from using their trademarks or brand names by submitting an online form with details of the infringement. You can access the form by clicking here.

For brand owners to protect themselves in social media one of the most efficient ways is to start using social media as part of the marketing mix. If you already take part in Facebook or other sites such as Myspace it automatically prevents exposure to risk and of course offers an opportunity to communicate with your customers on a new level. It also allows you to understand how users behave and it gives your brand an official site, which your customers will be looking for, negating any spoof sites set up using your brands.

Of course Facebook is one of many social networking web sites and it is increasingly important to not only monitor them, but to keep up to date with what is happening on these sites. For instance on Twitter anyone can choose a Twitter username that may contain your brand. Similar to Facebook, there are ways to take action against these individuals.

Brand owners need to create a clear online brand monitoring strategy which should not only look at the traditional Web 1.0 sites that contain static information, but also look at the Web 2.0 sites which are constantly changing. Some of the important factors in setting up a strategy would include prioritizing information. This could be based on the following criteria:

• Importance of mark
• Resource & Budget availability
• How visible the infringement is on the web
• Would you be able to pursue the case
• The type of infringement

The Internet is constantly evolving and brand owners need to keep up with these changes. There is no doubt that there will be similar scenarios to the Facebook username launch and therefore understanding the landscape of the Web is critical for brand owners.

To find out more about how CSC help organizations monitor the Internet please click here.