Saturday morning Facebook users will be allowed to created personalized usernames for use on Facebook.  This means instead of your profile or fan page ending in something like “id=592952074″, you can customize the URL to “http://www.facebook.com/johndoe”or “http://www.facebook.com/yourbrand.”

[Note about eligibility -- thanks Rachel and Todd for pointing this out -- Your Facebook Page must meet two requirements to claim a username on Saturday: it must have been live on Facebook prior to the May 31, 2009 cut-off date and have had a minimum 1,000 fans at that time.  However, this limitation is temporary. All Pages created after May 31, 2009 or that had less than 1,000 fans on that day will be eligible to claim usernames on Sunday, June 28, 2009, so mark your calendar for that day if your Page has fewer than 1000 fans.]

This opportunity makes it much easier to market and promote your Facebook presence, rather than making users look you up in the search and attempt to find the correct “Michael Cohen” or “Temple Israel” (which is increasingly difficult as Facebook growth skyrockets).

Those interested in protecting their BRAND should act quickly to a) make sure you get the most straightforward URL (www.facebook.com/templeisrael  instead of www.facebook.com/templeisraelpougkeepsie, for example); and b) to make sure someone doesn’t grab your name to use it for themselves, or to convince you to buy it off of them.   Given that Saturday morning at 12:01 eastern is Shabbat for many of us, you may be asking, “What is a Jew to do?”

Four options:

1. Get a non Jewish friend to do it for you at 12:01. Make sure they can login to your account, or make them an administrator for that day.
2. Do it right after Shabbat ends
3. Proactively protect your name. Facebook has created an online procedure by which trademark owners can prevent their brand names from being registered as Facebook usernames. (more info here). However, your name must be trademarked, and another Temple Israel gets the name, well, it’s legitimate and you’re out of luck. You can proactively fill out the form, which is short and simple. One should be completed for each brand name you wish to protect by Friday June 12, 2009.
4. Reclaim what’s rightfully yours. If someone illegitimately grabs your name, you may have hope. If you discover one of your brand names has been registered as a Facebook username on or after June 13, 2009, Facebook has reserved the right to remove or reclaim usernames for any reason, and trademark owners can report usernames that infringe intellectual property rights via Facebook’s IP infringement form here.

Be on the ball.  Grab what’s rightfully yours.  Just don’t take my name.  And remember to mark your calendar for Sunday, June 28 if your Page has fewer than 1000 fans.

P.S. — consider getting your own personal name too!