The term cybersquatting was coined when websites first became publicy available. People would buy domain names using company or brand names or the names of celebrities and then try to flog them back at inflated prices. A similar thing is now happening in social networks but potentially the outcomes are far more damaging.
Individuals are signing up on facebook, twitter and across the web to the identities of celebrities, and sometimes brands too. It costs them nothing and they are not selling the online persona back to their ‘rightful’ owners they are using them to impersonate. For many the intentions have been harmless but not for all. The fake Facebook account for Kate Winslett in which she apparently called her screen rival and fellow Oscar nominee Angelie Jolie , a “fat-lipped crazy cow” amused Kate apparently but that might not always be the case. A blog called Valebrity has taken on the task of validating celebrities on line and Jonathan Ross has appointed himself as twitter ‘star’ czar.
The act of impersonating others on twitter is also being used for political ends. John Ransford the Chief Executive of the Local Government Association has a ‘Twimposter’ who has been actively defaming him for weeks and the leading light of the Labour new media movement Derek Draper has pointed people in the direction of a fake David Cameron.
Companies and brands should be cautious too, with the growth of the social web and the velocity at which content spreads, charlatans of the social web may be ot there doing real harm to their business.
Ben and Jerry are no strangers to the world of PR. They regularly harness the power of word of mouth to promote their products and they actively promote their good works through the media. The latest Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream flavour is particulalrly interesting and not just because it piggy backs the news story of the century.
Companies are waking up to what is happening with their brands and there is concern in the boardroom. To them the web 2.0 world is the wild west. There are people staking claims, there are outlaws and there are wild rumours of huge fortunes. This is a digital frontier where the laws of the old world do not apply and voices are raised against the might of the old corporations. There are already celebrated examples of major brands and corporations capitulating in the face of on-line challenges like the David and Goliath battle between Jeff Jarvis and the mighty Dell. 
The growth in the power of brands in the 20th Century was partly achieved with the use of iconic visual imagery. 
