By now you're probably aware of the great Facebook vanity username (or vanity URL) gold rush that takes place this Saturday (pssst: It's actually late Friday. Don't miss it by 24 hours) . If not, this screenshot explains it in a nutshell:

But what does it mean for brands and for social media marketing for fan pages? Here are answers to some of your questions:

Does this apply to fan pages?

Yes. You can now change your Facebook page URL from something like: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Clever-Company-Namel/36396852117?ref=ts can be changed to http://www.facebook.com/CleverCompany. This makes it much easier to share your URL, and it will help you a bit with search engine optimization for your company name.

It's not breaking news that the citizens of the Internet love some humor. It always excites, yet hardly amazes me when I see something start to spread around and go "hot" all at once. Friends send me videos, photos and blog posts that are hilarious, sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally. But the things that end up being the most humorous aren't necessarily tied to any one product or brand. So can you intentionally use humor to drive awareness and create affinity?

It is not uncommon for websites to go through revamps on an ongoing basis. Some of your favorite social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, and Digg to name a few are much different looking nowadays then they once were. Below I have compiled screenshots of 16 top social networks outlining the drastic changes some of them have made since first launching.

Old Badoo Homepage

Current Badoo Homepage

• It’s so easy to share a status update, a Tweet, a Qik video.
• It’s so easy to log-in on Brightkite and show exactly where you are, and then have that update your Facebook status.
• It’s all so easy, which is why it’s so popular. 

But it’s also the reason why you have to "Think Before You Tweet." 

In January, we had "KeyInfluencer" inadvertently slamming the home town of one of his largest clients. In March, we had Cisco Fatty. Now we’ve got @izzyvideo getting robbed after Tweeting out that he and his family were on vacation.

On Friday night, I was on NBC17, talking about social media and personal privacy. Here’s how the segment went.

Occasionally when I tell someone that I work in social media, I get an eye roll and a snide comment that typically includes some version of the phrase “get a real job.” Fortunately, I was a Women’s Studies major in college and I am therefore adept at deftly navigating this sort of derision and distain. Recently, however, I’ve been noticing a lot of hateration directed toward the general concept of social media. These first tremors of backlash can be anxiety inducing if you or your client are feeling unsure about the value of “this whole social media thing.” The last thing companies want is to be embarrassed by jumping all gung-ho dollar signs onto some faddy bandwagon (hello Coke in SecondLife). And like every other shiny new movement, there’s bound to be an eventual moment where it finds itself being parodied on Saturday Night Live or poked at by Conan O’Brian.

Here’s a little Tuesday Trivia for you - what do environmentalism, Argentina, and a Netty Dress have in common? Still stumped? Well, each is an embodiment of the eco-friendly provider of all your outdoor clothing/gear needs for climbing, hiking, surfing, running and travel: Patagonia. Patagonia has been making quality outdoor wear with minimal environmental harm since 1972 and has become a staple “green” company since before it was the cool thing to do. So, continuing with our series, 26 Social Media Marketing Examples in Detail, I’m going to take a mental vacation and vicariously explore the great outdoors of South America by venturing into Patagonia’s online expeditions.

So what has this Fortune Magazine-dubbed “Coolest Company on the Planet” been up to in the world of social media? Let’s take a journey to find out…

Patagonia.com

Besides making it far too easy for me to watch my hard-earned paycheck disappear, the Patagonia Web site also contains a wide array of informative, enlightening, and engaging tidbits on environmentalism, conservationism, and, well, humanism. There are multiple subpages that offer some really interesting content, however, they’re not very social/interactive, which was a little disappointing. One of the more engaging parts of the site is The Footprint Chronicles - this is something I haven’t really seen before, but essentially it’s an interactive tool that guides you along the journey from raw material to final distribution by selecting a particular clothing item and traveling across a map from California to Turkey and back to L.A. This provides consumers with a unique perspective and insight into the full production process, leaving no secrets - I dig that.

Since so many of our followers enjoy the 26 Social Media Marketing Examples that was started by our very own Lisa Braziel and later joined by Anne Brannon, who recently wrote Social Media Marketing Example #13: Miller Brewing Company, I thought I’d jump in and help keep the examples going.

In this example, I will cover the online reservation site OpenTable where you can find restaurants, make reservations and receive confirmation online in a matter of seconds.

At first glance I was not impressed with the Web site in the least, but one mention of the name and my colleague, Brian Friedlander, yelled out “I LOVE that site!” So I decided there must be much more to this and thought I’d further investigate. Since Brian was so enthusiastic about the site, I was curious as to why he loved the site so much so I asked. Apparently, one of the Top 50 U.S. Restaurants, The French Laundry, is a location that takes reservations only two months in advance (no more than, no less) and getting a reservation via phone is nearly impossible as you’ll consistently hear only a busy signal coming from their line. But thanks to OpenTable’s online reservation element, he was able to skip the busy signal and book a reservation at The French Laundry, via OpenTable.com, with ease.

Social media sites, by their very definition, are ephemeral creatures. Their mercurial nature is part of what makes them so intriguing. What is here today can be gone, or even worse, obsolete tomorrow. Just ask Friendster.

Tattoos, on the other hand, are permanent. They are the indelible result of a momentary decision, which is why I found the fusion of these two seemingly diametrically opposed concepts to be worth exploring.

Twitter Ink

There have been a couple of interesting Twitter campaigns that have ended with someone getting inked. One that sparked quite a bit of buzz was done by MGH, Inc. for their client, the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association. There was a push to see if @baltimoremd could beat out @visitchicago and @travelportland to hit 3,000 followers in a matter of hours, so to sweeten up the deal, they offered up the flesh of their Strategy Director. He wound up with a Fail Whale, suspended by little Natty Boh birds, in a nod to the Bal’more way.

I'll be the first to say that I love baby animals. Whether they are playing in TV, cuddling with their moms in a magazine photo or doing funny tricks on "I Can Has Cheezburger", I'm a sucker for those tiny furry bundles of joy. Like most people, this is just one of the reasons that I love National Geographic. With all of their TV shows, beautiful magazine spreads and online information, I thought they might be an interesting addition to our series: 26 Social Media Marketing Examples in Detail.

Let's check out how National Geographic is optimizing social media:

Facebook

I was immediately impressed by National Geographic's robust Facebook Fan page, touting an impressive 470,555 fans.  National Geographic wisely updates the page's status one to three times a week and provides a lot of engaging content in the Facebook tabs, met by lots of interaction by their fans.  With most brand to fan interaction happening on the wall, thousands have fans have "Liked" content or commented positively even when branded content is shared straight from nationalgeographic.com.  Taking a closer look, it appears that National Geographic isn't just sharing this content, but actively promoting fan activity and interaction.  For instance, instead of sharing a survey that lives on their site, they posted the link to the wall and commented, "Post your score and challenge your friends". Tailoring this content in this way is a great way to welcome and jump start involvement. 

Forrester's recent report on The Future of The Social Web made some interesting predictions about where social media marketing is heading, and how major brands will need to respond. We've clearly moved beyond Social Relationships and into Social Functionality, and the early signs of Social Colonization are clearly upon us. If they have it right, and we end up in an era of Social Commerce, the brands getting involved today will be at a tremendous advantage. And brands that don't seriously get involved will be watching from the sidelines in less than five years.