On Tuesday Facebook created quite a rush with the announcement that Facebook usernames were coming. The rules were carefully explained by Inside Facebook and the Facebook Developer Blog provided an advance screen shot of what will become available on Saturday morning.
The reactions were a mixture of resignation and inevitability with frequent admonitions to get on line. Six Pixels provided the short list explaining why you want one and Marketing Pilgrim analyzed the 'off page' aspect of reputation management.
There were several thoughtful bloggers who didn't react positively to something that Inside Facebook described as 'a step toward @addressable identity'. Chris Messina seemed to lead the faction warning that the development of digital identity was dictating human behavior when the opposite should occur and Alexander Van Elsas followed with the concern that people were allowing sites to easily lock-in their personal identities. Regular Geek addressed the growing concern that the 'digital identity for dummies' process had captured an unfortunate path of least resistance.
Meanwhile, there was some discussion of protective steps that brands (and some people) should consider by Saturday morning. Digital Media Law advised on the legal aspect of protecting your name. If you happen to be one of those looking to take false advantage, CenterNetworks listed Britney, Obama and 23 other usernames that are already crossed from your list.
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