Archive for 19 February, 2010
The naming of things is a googlable matter
Time was, when Susy Simpkins married Mr Smith she became Mrs Smith.
Except that the right ‘Susy Smith’ (9,750 results) is a lot harder to track down on google than ‘Susy Simpkins’ (3 results).
And if you thought it was a hassle changing the name on your bank account, passport and driving licence, try adding your work and personal email, twitter, LinkedIn and facebook to the list.
I’ve started to notice that some of my friends are keeping their maiden name for work – and online too. In the unlikely event that I managed to persuade someone to marry me, I’d be tempted to keep my surname as I’m unique on google and enjoy dream search results (page one includes my blog, twitter, LinkedIn and flickr). On the other hand, perhaps I’m a bit too findable…
There’s a similar dilemma for businesses too – and I’m not just talking about consumer brands. Its all very well planning a lovely re-brand, but what about all the online brand equity you (should have) invested in and built up across social media? You won’t just need new business cards, you’ll need a new twitter handle, blog URL and so on as well.
With the naming of new brands becoming increasingly defined by which URLs are still available, I can foresee a serious fall in enthusiasm for rebrandings as they become a technological nightmare.
