The Thirty Day Challenge only gets better with every year, just as web applications do. One of the improvements from last year’s challenge is the addition of the Thirty Day Challenge Facebook Application. Check it out below.

Now, am not going to sit here and tell you about Facebook or the numbers because I know you’re tired of hearing them already. But I will tell you how absolutely awesome it is that The Thirty Day Challenge is on the largest social network.

If you live on Facebook, and you will be participating in this year’s challenge beginning August 1st, am sure you will appreciate being able to access all the trainings & videos without leaving Facebook. It’s like having the cafeteria & the classroom all in the same room. Bad analogy, I know but you get the point.

So if you’re on Facebook and haven’t yet added the Thirty Day Challenge Application, you know what to do. If you haven’t yet registered for The Thirty Day Challenge yet, you can do it right on Facebook too. Preseason is on now.

For those who have not fully exploited what the Social Media world has to offer, you can update your Facebook status without being logged onto ….and I don’t mean by Facebook mobile either.

Here are 5 ways you can do that:

1. Twitter

Twitter is by far the most popular when it comes to the ability to update your Facebook status outside of Facebook itself. Note, however, that updating your Twitter status by itself does not automatically update your Facebook status update. You would have to integrate the two services together, usually in this case by adding the Twitter app on Facebook.Twitter by itself has a whole library of Twitter client applications that just add to its awesomeness. We’ll take another look again at Twitter and why it is listed first in the series.

2. Ping.fm

Above is a screen shot of my Ping.fm dashboard. I specifically wanted to show this screen to touch more on the status update portion of it. Notice on the image above that the only Social Network that I have included to receive my status updates from Ping.fm is Twitter. This in all likelihood has something to do with the fact that Twitter happens to be the Social Network that I frequent the most. Also, I did not include Facebook because they way I have set up my networks is for Twitter to update my Facebook. You have to think about how you want to synchronize your networks. If for some odd reason I would have included Facebook, I would have had duplicate (and more certainly annoying) status updates, one from Ping.fm & one from Twitter. In this example I update my Facebook status from Ping.fm via Twitter.

3. HelloTxt

HelloTxt’s tag line is “We Are Status”. As with Ping.fm, you’d have to add which Social Networks you’d want your status updated to. In addition, HelloTxt also allows you to be able to read your friends’ status updates from the networks you add. With updating to Facebook from HelloTxt , you’ll also be required to install the HelloTxt application on Facebook.

4. Plaxo

Plaxo is another Social Network. As you can tell from the graphic above, one of the best options they give you is the ability to auto-connect with your friends that are already on Facebook. Another option you have is for your Facebook wall posts to appear on your Plaxo page. And third, which is today’s blog topic, is the ability to have Plaxo update your Facebook status and vice-versa.

5. Blip.fm

Blip.fm, is a network where you can listen to music online while at the same time sharing it with your friends. The process of sharing a song is the equivalent of updating your Blip.fm status with “Listening to the song ABC”. When you send it across other Social Networks, what your friends get is basically a shortened link to your Blip.fm page that has the song. What you’d want to ideally is to send a message along with it, such as “They played this song during the concert last night”, just so your friends are not just get a random link that leaves them clueless.

If you notice on the graphic above, Facebook is not listed as a Social Network that you can update your status to. However, remember we talked about Twitter & Ping.fm already? If you are using either of those networks then you would in fact be able to update your Facebook status from Blip.fm via Twitter or Ping.fm.

I hope the post was helpful in showing you the beauty that is social networks and how well they integrate with one another. Happy networking.

Yesterday, I happened to be on Ed Dale’s Twitter feed. The anticipation that “name squatters”, for luck of a better term, would be working overtime, had come into realisation. Ed Dale’s preferred username had been grabbed as well as those of John Reese and Darren Rowse. If you are a blogger or have been anywhere near internet marketing, then you would quickly realize where this is headed.

Ever since time immemorial, people have been known to impersonate others with the hopes of capitalizing on unsuspecting people. It is one reason why entities register every possible variation of their domain names such as bn.com and barnesandnoble.com including all the extensions thereafter.

As Michael Arrington of TechCrunch reports, Facebook had given high level journalists and Facebook employees the option to pre-register their preferred usernames. Arrington declined that option and elected to join the general public in the race to virtual real estate.

Granted, the Facebook usernames were being assigned on a first come first served basis. That absolutely does not give us the right to impersonate well documented public figures such as the individuals mentioned above. Are we honestly expected to believe that these impostors had absolutely no idea what they were doing? That intent/premeditation factor is what forms the legal basis in the event of a court trial.

Pure Genius = Registering a keyword domain that you might some day capitalize on. Plain Stupidity = Impersonating a public figure such as Ed Dale and thinking you are going to get away with it. I, mean what did this person think they were going to get out of this?  Did they not read Facebook’s No Transferability Policy? That right there is what goes to show you that common sense is not so common. These individuals have worked very hard to create a name for themselves and everyone else should. That someone isn’t proud of their own name and wish they were born Ed Dale is utterly pathetic. I could only think of one username I’d have wanted to claim….mine!

Facebook also has the option to report that someone’s username infringes on you intellectual property rights. Not saying that Ed Dale, John Reese and Darren Rowse have to have copyrighted their names, but it is certain that anyone attempting to pose as them is out to make some money out of it. Despite the fact that Facebook only allows you to have one username, I believe that these individuals should also have the option to reserve other usernames that are synonymous to them, such as Ed Dale with Thirty Day Challenge, John Reese with Opportunity.com and Darren Rowse with Problogger.

Hopefully, Facebook will be able to come through on this issue. I don’t think that these individuals should be reaching out and asking if anybody knows anyone at Facebook. I am sure each of them have a massive supporter base that can vouch for them. Perhaps Facebook should borrow a leaf from Twitter in establishing a verified account profiles such as those of Lance Armstrong.

Reading the comments on the Facebook blog on this topic, it would appear that the response to this is rather negative as opposed to positive. While there may be some justification if any, to this reaction, that is a topic for another day. My aim here is to assist you with grabbing a piece of your own virtual real estate.

What is a Facebook Username anyway, and where can I get one?

Currently, your user profiles used to be something on the lines of http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?id=816460064&ref=profile. With a Facebook Username, your profile would instead read something like http://facebook.com/kevinkute. You can get your own by clicking here.

Are Facebook Usernames just for Personal Profiles?

No, the Facebook Usernames are for both Personal Profiles and Facebook Fan Pages.

But my Facebook Username is Not Available?

This is the part where you call your mother and ask them why they had to name you Robert Smith. Facebook Usernames are being assigned on a first come first served basis. Need i emphasize how important it is to avail yourself at the strike of midnight tonight?

Someone is Illegally using my Username, what do I do?

Unfortunately, the deadline for submitting a request to reserve your trademark name has expired. Once Username registration is opened, you may still protect your rights on our site using our existing infringement reporting process. If you wish to report that someone’s Username infringes your intellectual property rights, you may report them to Facebook by clicking here.

What is Facebook doing to limit situations of “Name Squatting”?

For Personal Profiles you must have created the account prior to June 9th, 2009. New accounts are not eligible for Usernames until June 28th, 2009. For Facebook Fan Pages, the page must have been created prior to May 31st, 2009 and must have at least 1000 fans.

Will a Username become Available in the Future?

Because of Facebook’s strict No Transfer Policy, once a Username is assigned, you will never be able to attain it, even if the original holder of that Username deletes their account. Entrepreneurial minds out there….you’re out of luck on this one.

I don’t like my Username, can I change it?

Not unless you’re also changing your legal name but No, once a Username is assigned to you, you CANNOT change it, even if you misspelled your name (which forensic experts contend is a hard thing to do).

Any other advice on Usernames?

Yes, Usernames must be at least 5 characters long, can only be alphanumeric “A-Z” “0-9″ or a period “.”.  Also, Facebook reserves the right to prevent certain words from being used, and the right to recall any Username without reason.

How Can I Make This As Painless As Possible?

First, get some coffee or something…it’s going to be a long wait. Second, get a book or turn your TV on, forecaster predict a 75% chance of server downtime and/or crushes. Third, best of luck to you if you have anything less than DSL. Fourth, I do not expect to hear adults moan that they couldn’t get their Usernames…call your mama and talk it over.

Hope this was helpful to you. Business people will definitely see the implications of this change. Don’t get left out…grab your own virtual real estate, coming soon to  a computer near you Saturday June 13th at 0001 HRS EST.

If you thought that was traumatic, wait till you get a friend request from someone you hardly even know. Ever scratch your head and ask yourself as you look at that friend request “Where do I know you from again?”. Believe it or not, it happens and by various accounts that I have seen, it is not only awkward, some people are just plain irritated by it. When did it suddenly become appropriate to send a friend request to someone who barely knows you?

For quite some time now, I tend to get way more friend requests than I send out. Out of the couple I get a day or a week, I wouldn’t be surprised if none of them was sent with a personal note indicating how I know the person or why they wanted to be friends. So apparently it’s becoming more and more acceptable to send friend requests without an introduction. Disagree? Am thinking that there are two schools of thought on this one.  I describe them below.

If you are like the greater majority of Facebook users that use it to connect with old friends and schoolmates etc, then you have every reason to be worried. You should be worried because either the person that sent you the request sure think they know you or you have a really terrible memory. I’ll be the first one to admit that sometimes am not very good with names.

And then you might be the Facebook user that uses it for networking. Networking can be defined as making connections with someone you don’t already know and benefitting each other. Surprisingly enough, it would then appear that with this school of thought,  it would be more acceptable to receive or for that matter send out a friend request without an introduction.

The first school of thought would definitely demand that you provide a brief introduction of how you know each other. Granted, the person may assume you both remember each other but to err on the side or caution, it’s best not to assume the person remembers you, but rather introduce yourself one more time. One thing that greatly helps is the “Mutual Friends” feature. You can quickly scan your common friends and conclude since you both know the same 20 friends from high school, you must have gone to high school together as well. A definite no no is a friend request with no introduction, no friends in common and no indication of how the both of you know each other.

On the networking side of the fence, you can’t  always expect to know everyone that friends you. This is especially true if you are some celebrity of sorts. Those seeking to be your friend are most likely your fans. If on the other hand you are involved in some form of online work, the people friending you might either be in the same field as you or in a field that complements yours. I have received one such request where we shared 800 friends in common. Now you think to yourself, “Surely, 800 people can’t be wrong, right?” But does that still excuse skipping an introduction?

You may have connected with the person on another social networking platform. I’ve used introductions as simple as “Your Twitter Friend”. There was another person whose book I had read before I even knew they were on Facebook, and I made sure to mentioned that in the introduction. Other kinds of introductions would be include telling them of a teleseminar they presented, a comment they made on a mutal friend’s wall etc

The notion seems to be that even the slightest of introductions goes a long way towards getting your relationship off on the right foot. And be honest in your introductions. I think there are tale tell signs of a cut copy & paste job. Personalize – make the person feel as though you are addressing them and that the message is not just a generic one. Now go out there and make friends, will you?

Just to get the proper perspective, people use social media for various reasons. Take Facebook for instance. Some people use it to connect with family and friends (even their stalkers). Some use it to connect with their schoolmates or co-workers. Yet another group use it for business. A very interesting portion of them use it for all of the above.

With this in mind, how do you balance your personal relationships with your business relationships? A few people actually maintain more than one profile on a variety of social media platforms. However, I think the greater majority would agree that that would be somewhat of a tedious task to undertake. I would say that a general norm would be that it is acceptable for your elementary school friends or your neighbor to be your friend on Facebook, just as long as they understand that you are there for business (read No Pillow Fight Invitations).

My Facebook Status Updates originate from Twitter 99% of the time. The characters you see above would most likely be from a friend that updates their status via Twitter. I would say that majority of my friends on both Facebook and Twitter would understand my Twitter lingo. After all, it is a somewhat conventional practice to be connected on more than one social media platform. However, there is that tiny percentage that I probably drive crazy. My one Facebook friend (we actually used to be in high school together) even went as far as making up his own Status Updates that included a little bit of everything he had seen in my updates. Irony is, he is a dentist – am working on showing him how social media can work wonders for his business.

So what is that # sign I keep seeing anyway?  The # sign is known as the hashtag symbol in Twitter and is used to denote a topic on Twitter. It is user defined and it is created by quite simple as just placing the symbol # in front of a topic e.g. #superbowl. My Status Update could be “Warner just hit Fitzgerald for a 42 yard touchdown #superbowl”. Anybody who sees my Status Update would recognize that I was referencing the Superbowl. The hashtag #superbowl makes it easier to do searches. A “#superbowl” search would yield far greater results than a “Warner” or a “Fitzgerald” search.

A @ sign directs your Status Update to a specified user. A Twitter update that has an @kevinkute anywhere in it is directed towards me. I could easily find any references to my username with any of the many Twitter applications or via the Twitter search engine.

Finally, there is RT. RT is short for retweet. In Twitter terms, retweet simply means that you are repeating a tweet by someone else. Why would you want to repeat something that someone else said, you might ask. If you hear something that you thought would be helpful to others, wouldn’t you want your friends to know about it? By retweeting, you are not only sharing with your friends, but you are also acknowledging the original poster of the message.

Hopefully as a Facebook user you will now be able to make some sense of the Status Updates of that friend that always seems to use language you can’t quite seem to understand.