BLACK paPR Report

In pretty much the same manner as Twitter, Facebook has begun emailing the originators and administrators of fan pages to verify their brands: celebrities, personalities, businesses, etc. This is smart. I’ve actually known of individuals who repped celebrities but couldn’t start a fan page for them because someone else used a similar brand to start one. The downside of this issue is what if an actual fan created a fan page for their fave celebrity or product; how would you ask them to operate as non-verified or to give up the use of the celebrity’s name?

According to InsideFacebook.com:

It gives three different ways of certifying page ownership.

1. “Add a badge or a Fan Box widget to your website that links to your Facebook Page.”
2. “Add an email address that is officially affiliated with the entity of your Page to your personal Facebook account. You can also add the email address of a company authorized to manage your brand (e.g., management or PR firm).”
3. “Add another admin to your Page who has an email address that is officially affiliated with the entity your Page represents.”

The latter two options are straightforward. The first one is more interesting, as it cleverly both proves that the page owner has control over their own web site, and gets the owner actively promoting the page (and Facebook itself).

The upside is that people who want to hold a celebrity or product’s name hostage will now have to come clean. As a publicist this is wise brand management.

InsideFacebook.com continues:

This new authentication form is hardly the end of the problem. Twitter, for example, has also recently rolled out a verification process for accounts, yet people continue to make fake ones. Facebook may now have more questions to answer, as the Lonely CEO guys note: “What legal obligations does this create for Facebook? Is Facebook suddenly responsible for the accuracy of pages? To what degree are these communities responsible for the identities they present? In addition, what will happen to abstract pages (like “Ice Cream” or “Pizza”)? Many legal and practical implications will continue to pop up as the issue evolves….”

Go here for the form. And read here for more information.

For information on verifying a Twitter account go here.