NameChk has made checking the availability of your favorite user name and domain simple and easy. Today, we're releasing NameChk for your iPhone, iPad and iPad touch. Now you can see the availability of your next amazing user name the moment it occurs to you: in the line at the grocery, while you're daydreaming at the coffee shop, at a Startup Weekend — anywhere! NameChk for iOS is especially great for social media experts. Imagine brainstorming user names with a client and knowing immediately if a name is available without having to pull out your laptop.

NameChk for iOS is just our start in the mobile space. Stay tuned for refinements and new features. And Android fans stay tuned — we haven't forgotten you!

Get NameChk for your iOS device now! http://namechk.com/iOS 

                     
iPhone                                                                     iPad             

It's been a dynamic two years since we launched Namechk's free username check tool. Much has transpired in our lives, in technology and in the world around us. We're grateful to be able to offer this service to the interwebs and as a result, build connections with people around the globe. Thank you for your tweets, articles, videos and support, citizens of the world! For instance, this review of Namechk by Pollyanna in its "Websites of the Week" spot on The Gadget Show has gotten picked up on multiple video sites. Thanks for the coverage!

You might have noticed a new feature that we've recently added: the available domain tool. When you enter in a username, not only will the site check the top 160 social media sites, but it will also search for domain names that closely match your username. It's a great tool for people who want to really own their username and for companies who are branding a service or product and want to secure the brand's URL at the same time as securing their social profiles.

Some people have wondered why we don't list more social media sites on Namechk. After all, there are thousands of social media sites and over 400 major active ones. In a word: overload. More is not always better. The vast majority of people are interested in registering on the top 10 - 20 sites. There are some people who have unique interests and belong to niche social communities that we don't list and to that, we apologize that we're not an exhaustive list at present. The 84 sites that we list by default are the most popular social networking sites. You can click "Show All" and check the top 160 sites. If that's not enough for you, we say more power to you! Traffikd's list is a great place to get the top 400 sites by category or use Wikipedia to see the 322 sites' traffic around the world. That's not to say that we're not interested in adding more though, so please feel free to suggest a site be added to our directory.

We plan to keep Namechk alive and thriving in the year ahead. We welcome any feedback and suggestions. Or, message us on Twitter with your thoughts.

Thanks! And cheers!

To illustrate just how valuable our online identities have become, enter Entrustet, a free service that catalogs your digital assets and gives you the power to assign an heir to them when you pass away. The company's tagline is: "It's your legacy..."

Launching April 26th, Entrustet acts as your online will for your social media accounts, including your web mail accounts. You can designate people to become "heirs" to these accounts, ensuring that your social media profile is left in the right hands when you're no longer around.  Otherwise, loved ones might be left to haggle with the social media giants like Facebook over privacy policy rights and potentially valauble information such as photos, documents and insights into your life might be locked down indefinitely.

An upcoming tool, Executor's Assistant, will allow Entrustet or your exector to delete other accounts like bills and subscriptions upon death.

And, if you'd prefer for your digital assets to retire when you do, you can delete them with the Account Incinerator which will delete your accounts upon death.

On our first birthday, we’d like to write a post about you! THANK YOU to all of our users and social media followers. Considering the difficult economy and the struggles that so many are facing, we hope that this free service has been useful for those wanting to take hold of their personal and corporate social media footprints. Being visible in social media has never been more important so keep checking back when you’re looking for a new username.

We sincerely appreciate your support and social mention shout-outs. Special thanks for Josh Lowensohn for his CNET article the day of our launch and a kind mention today in “Six April Fools’ Day launches that were real.”

So this year, please keep tweeting, mentioning and sharing about Namechk. And we’d love to hear from more of you: tell us what features you’d like to see in the year ahead. Just tweet us, or use the Suggest a Site link below.

Any worker living through this recession knows that job security doesn’t exist anymore. We are in the era of “The Disposable Worker” as dubbed by BusinessWeek in its January 2010 cover story. The recession has hastened some negative employment trends including: offshoring, declining influence of labor unions, new management techniques, regulatory changes and automation. 5% of US jobs have been lost and many of those jobs may be perpetually gone even after the recession due to the competitive drive to stay offshore and automate. Worker grievances like little pay increases, degraded working conditions and minimal job security may last for 5-10 years.  Young people are particularly affected by these trends since many can’t land their first job or their first job out of college.

So how distinguish yourself in an increasingly hostile job economy and a burgeoning global workplace? Your “best self”- your personal brand – needs to become visible in social media.

According to a recent survey by Harris Interactive, 45% of HR professionals utilize social networking sites to research prospective employment candidates and 11% plan to implement social media screening very soon. With 35% of companies finding social media content that has caused them to not hire candidates, what you post and where you post must be given careful consideration.  On the positive side, 18% of employers have uncovered positive content at social sites that have caused them to hire someone.

Thus, social media has an increasing impact on the world’s perception of your personal brand. We’ll define four steps that will help you distinguish yourself from the pack.

First, you need to define your best attributes. You need to find your niche. This can be a challenging first step for some who pride themselves on being a jack-of-all-trades. While this can be a positive attribute, it’s subjective and should not have your sole feature.  Being great at something is more apt to make you stand out than being mediocre at dozens of things.

During the define exercise, try to quiet the inner voices that compare your attributes to others or assert aspirations that never quite come to fruition. Think of this exercise like a “features and benefits” chart that many products and services use.  Examine what you really can do, the principles that you stand for and how these attributes can benefit the world via your workplace, personal relationships and outreach.

Next, you need to network: social media is where you’ll need to build the foundation of your brand. Think of your social network as an investment in your future. You will have to be creative to stand out – this is where expressing your best self and your niche comes into play. Besides your friends, family and coworkers network, branch out and engage with people you aspire to be like, work for, or receive mentorship from. Social media is free and easy to join but its benefits can be lost on those who don’t delve into the finer details.

For instance, if you’re on Twitter, aspire up with regard to who you follow. Follow your industry’s big shots as well as the lesser-known people that post valuable insights into career and life. Look at the “following” list of people you respect and follow those same people.

Then, engage: retweet, direct message and ask questions. The big shots won’t likely message you back, but you never know when they might notice your tweet in their stream because you’re commenting on a topic that happens to be on their radar. If nothing else, learn from those who have more experience than you, a more distinct niche or habits that you’d like to emulate.

Once you’ve established a social foundation, you need to maintain your personal brand. That means you’ll need to have a good attitude, no matter who’s pulling your strings or what personal issues are troubling you. Inter-company relationships are important. Make sure your employer understands who you are and what value you provide to the company. Just because the job environment is increasingly competitive doesn’t mean you should start alienating your fellow workers. Don’t be conniving but do let the boss occasionally see that your actions towards others demonstrate concern and teamwork.

Integrity and meaningful progress have always been desirable attributes for workers, families and friends. But more than ever with an ever-changing job economy, it’s important to be transparent and evolve.

If you stumble and cause a notable offense, miss a deadline or squander an opportunity, you can use your social media profile to note your mistake and enumerate your commitment to improvement. Like we’ve seen with many companies whose product or service misses the mark, you can either ignore the rants and let the social media firestorm ignite unabated (think Ryannair or Dell) or you can face the issue head-on, express plans for reparation and direct the outcome (think Domino’s Pizza Turnaround campaign). 

And as your knowledge, experience and skills progress, make sure that your social media profile expresses the positive evolution of your brand. You don’t have to always be displaying some newfangled device or talent but do keep up with advancements in your industry and cultivate efficiencies in your personal life.

Once you’ve built your personal brand on social media, persevere. This isn’t a one-off campaign; this is a evolving expression of who you are throughout the course of your life.

Increasingly, we all use the internet, search and social media to check in with and check up on the people we encounter. If you haven’t done so already, now is the time to define, network, maintain and evolve your personal brand – your “best self” - via social networking. 

For more a more detailed look at personal branding, download or buy Dan Schawbel’s popular book on the subject: Me 2.0.

Social media isn't just for students anymore. Some schools are utilizing Facebook, Twitter and blogs to keep in touch with parents, community members and alumni. Since it is easier to reach these constituents where they are instead of getting them to visit the school websites.

"It's what the kids and parents are at home with, and it's really important to be able to meet them where they are," says Marlene Nesary, a spokeswoman International Society for Technology in Education, an Eugene, OR based nonprofit group that supports the use of information technology in learning.

Schools are realizing that the simplicity of social media status updates and opening up two-way communication are real and relationship-building benefits that social media platforms provide.

"If you can read a blog and can see pictures and watch video clips, all of a sudden you have some insight into what's going on," says Adrian Murphy the teacher at Green Acres in Rockville, MD that is responsible for the school's new blog. "You've been invited to the conversation, and you can participate on your time."

Reading a blog about interesting goings-on with the students and school can take as little as a minute or two, but getting parents to visit the school for a parent-teacher conference is very time-consuming. The instant and always-on nature of social media enables better, more consistent communication while preserving the precious commodity of time.

Its been an interesting week in Twitterland with Ashton Kutcher, @aplusk, challenging CNNBrk, @cnnbrk, to a race to 1 million Twitter followers. Kutcher revealed his challenge via this YouTube video where he promised to “ding dong ditch” Ted Turner’s house in Atlanta where he’s filming a movie, if Kutcher beats CNN to the punch.  At the time of the taunt, @aplusk had 842,550 followers, give or take a few. @cnnbrk had 897,969 followers – roughly 50,000 more than Ashton.

Kutcher challenges CNN via Twitter

In a video post, Ashton expressed his astonishment that because of Twitter, one person can have as large a voice online as an entire media company. He appreciated that CNN took his challenge seriously.

Larry King invites Ashton Kutcher to his show

Larry King retorted in a lighthearted challenge acceptance speech posted at YouTube:

“CNN will bury you…I’ll participate in anything you want. You come on my show, I’ll go on your Twitter…If you ring his bell (Ted Turner)…there is a strong possibility that he’ll send a bison to your house. I know CNN will beat you. But don’t take it badly, don’t take it personally. You’re one guy. They’re an entire gorge network. We will defeat you.”

The saga continued when Oprah called. Yes, Oprah. She invited Ashton to do a remote interview about the CNN challenge and perhaps more importantly,  Twitter. Oprah released her first tweet in today’s show. (Can you imagine the fail whales that we’ll see today on Twitter?)

Oprah invites Kutcher on her show

Meanwhile, back at the CNN ranch, the story within a story was breaking. The Business Insider first broke the account with this expose: “CNN Acquires CNNbrk Twitter Account With Nearly 1 Million Followers.”

Yes, that’s correct – @cnnbrk was not under CNN’s control until April 15, 2009. This was, of course, just two days after Kutcher’s fun-loving challenge to what he and nearly a million other followers assumed was a CNN-run account. Oops. Can you say, punk’d?

James Cox, a London-based Web developer, created the CNNBrk account in January 2007 and maintained it with the permission and oversight of CNN since mid-2007. But it was apparently an unofficial partnership.

KC Estenson, head of CNN’s online operation, noted that Twitter’s popularity has skyrocketed since the November election: “As Twitter took off and became more prominent, we decided it was time to take our engagement and make it a marriage.”

Interesting times indeed. It’s a bit telling that CNN apparently hadn’t yet grasped the value of their brand at Twitter. Do they not realize that their audience may actually want authentic interaction with “the most trusted source for news?”

This story certainly draws attention to the value of your brand online. It’s not good enough anymore to hope that social media goes away or that your competitors won’t figure it out before you do. It is time to claim your brand and manage it with authenticity.

Ashton Kutcher is his own brand and because he’s realizing that his Twitter followers are really listening,  he’s concerned about the integrity of his name and doing some good while tweeting it up with fans. When you tweet @aplusk, you’re communicating with Ashton himself – not a paid manager. At least for now.

Not everyone can fit Twitter or managing other social campaigns into their busy days. But if you can’t do it, then find an employee or brand advocate who will take responsibility. CNN kind of did that with their unofficial partnership with Cox, but the relationship was more casual than a mega-brand should be exposed for.

Personal and corporate brands that are making their tweets heard are those that also focus on personal, one-to-one communication with their followers. Sure, it takes time and effort and yes, you become more exposed. But for @zappos, @jimmyfallon, @lancearmstrong and @jetblue Twitter is an essential communication tool.

Indeed, in the Age of the Individual, all of us are actually are our “brands” also – whether it be your semi-unique name or what you stand for. In Chris Brogan’s blog, “Elements of a Personal Brand,” he discusses the state of mind of being your own company:

Inside my head, I’m the CEO, project manager, and administrative assistant to my own private company. Employees= 1. With this in mind, I look at every job I take as a project. I look at every project as an opportunity. I talk to everyone professionally as if they’re someone looking to partner with me and my company. This helps me frame everything I do.

And so to answer Ashton’s question -

Oprah and Twitter

Thoughts? With Oprah and CNN shining their megawatt media light on Twitter and the importance of social media, now is the time to get your brand established online if you haven’t already. Remember – uniformity and consistency are very important. You won’t have a unified brand if your username is different at every site. Make Namechk your first step in solidifying your voice in the social mediasphere.

The race for followers highlights the impact of Twitter and the importance of usernames, the people behind the tweets and the value of brand – whether personal or corporate. Brandjacking is the new identity theft and even if someone hasn’t nabbed your social media username, have you really claimed your social media identity and its voice?

We really feel the love from many Twitter users, with whom we’ve shared some “tweet” reparte.  Thanks to these and many others: @mashable (thanks for the article), @scobleizer (thanks for crashing us), @josh (the first to write about Namechk at C|NET), @zaibatsu, @pitchengine, @Orli, @weblaunches, @guruvan, @Djchyk, @wendytimmons, @autismfamily, @upicks and @CharissaCowart.  And so, so, so many more!!!

Our goal, first and foremost, was to provide a fast, free, useful service for branding yourself and your company via social networking sites.

This is just the beginning though, since we have plans to provide more social media tools in the near future - including the oft-requested auto-registration tool (we’re working on it!).

We’ve gotten some fantastic feedback from hundreds of Twitter users and we’re so glad that you’re finding the tool useful. So keep the tweets, replies and DMs coming - we’re tracking your feedback and gearing up for more tools soon.

Thanks for your strong support - we couldn’t do it without you!

We took the opportunity to launch an official press release about yesterday’s launch of Namechk.  The release has received a lot of impressions in the last 12 hours which is exciting.

Excerpts from the press release are below. Read the full release at PRWeb.

Like a vanity domain name, establishing a personal or corporate brand via a strong social media presence or vanity URL makes it easier to be found and followed. For businesses that utilize social media to connect with customers, a large number of followers and “friends” can dramatically effect a company’s bottom line, notes David Gosse, co-creator of Namechk:

“It is increasingly important to develop your personal and company brand consistently across the major social network websites. That means getting the same username identity as often as possible. It makes it easier for others to find you, and it also builds a cohesive marketing strategy that eventually creates a presence in the major search engines. It also keeps others from tapping into your success and brand jacking your efforts and identity.”

Namechk plans to add new services in the coming weeks, including user-submitted site additions, tips on interesting people and brands to follow and a feature that will auto-register a selected username at available sites.

Acknowledging today’s official launch of Namechk, the web’s newest social media username checking service, Go2web20 added the service to its directory.

Go2web20 is one of the largest web 2.0 directories, indexing over 2,700 services. It’s aim to is help people stay current with the new web services. The company constantly updates it directory, keep only active sites listed for its users.

Our appreciation to Orli Yakuel, founder of Go2web20, for the fast response to our launch. Orli’s goal is to add value to the web community and we share that goal. We look forward to adding more valuable services for our users in the near future!