If you don’t use MySpace, Twitter, and other forms of social media, that’s fine.  Time and money can be tight, interests can lie elsewhere - no problem.  Go ahead and stake out your name(s), though, to prepare for the future and/or protect yourself.

Remember the early days of instant messaging?  A few people managed to establish just their first names as their screen names.  The next wave set up their first and last names.  Then, as the scene became so full of folks, you’d wind up having to remember 1984NYJoanLikesDogCatsBirdsNotMice1995 - for just one friend.

As far as MySpace is concerned, this advice is probably coming far too late.  Twitter is an up-and-coming service, however, and respectable entities like the BBC have already set up shop there.

Stoney deGeyter writes, “The last thing you want is someone out there twittering in your business’ name.  Maybe they are a fan with good intentions, but maybe not.  In either case, an ‘unauthorized’ individual is out there actively engaging with the community in your name.  They could be saying things that appear to be official company communications, but aren’t.”

Establishing a Twitter account takes less than five minutes and is completely free.  Even if you think people discussing their dull days in 140-character lumps is idiotic, do yourself a favor and check it out.

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You might be selling a business or changing marriage statuses.  Or trying to cheat the IRS or hide from the mob.  Whatever.  But if, for any reason, you need to change a Google AdSense payee name, there are a few things to take into account.

First, the idea of giving an account to someone else is a no-no.  “AdSense accounts cannot be transferred or sold per our Program Policies,” according to Google.  “We will not be able to update your payee name if this is the case.”

Also, “We start processing payments on the 16th of each month.  If you’re scheduled to receive a payment this month and your account is updated after the 16th, your payment will be issued to your old name.”

Those are pretty much the only sticking points, though.  Otherwise, there’s just a relatively simple form to fill out and a couple of clicks to make.  Google appears to be keeping the process both safe and easy.

Trina Sonnenberg and Barry Schwartz, who were doing completely aboveboard things, get credit for first addressing the subject.

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More than once in my life, I’ve had to turn in an assignment or send an email at a very inconvenient time.  The sort of time that makes you take a day off or wake up in the middle of the night.  Anyone who’s been in the same position should be happy to hear that Blogger now allows future-dated posts.

Yes, just write your post, click on “post options” and a little fiddling in the “post date and time” field should allow you to schedule publishings weeks in advance.

Here’s how it’ll affect you: forget the whole inconvenient time or loss of sleep thing.  Then, readers of personal blogs won’t have to go without their regular intake of whatever, and readers of business blogs won’t have to wonder what horrible things are going on behind the scenes when a blogger’s really just taken a few days off.

Schedule product release announcements, birthday wishes, or anything else you please.  This should be a time-saver, as it’ll allow people to spend fewer days writing stuff (so long as they create more than one post after finally sitting down).

Of course, other blog platforms have offered this feature for a while, so Blogger doesn’t deserve too much praise for simply catching up.  Still, for people who have stuck by Blogger, the development should be fairly exciting.

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The fact that the Web is full of wackos is well known; all sorts of people like to rant about all sorts of pointless little things.  A new study shows that a lot of folks research customer care online, though, so reputation management continues to be an important matter.

The Society for New Communications Research found that “72.2% of respondents research companies’ customer care online prior to purchasing products and services at least sometimes,” according to Nathania Johnson.

Also - although this might be a more obvious conclusion - the respondents aren’t just looking these things up for their own amusement.  “84% of respondents consider the quality of customer care at least sometimes in their decision to do business with a company,” Johnson wrote.

You’re bound to run into the problem people have noticed for centuries, of course -satisfied customers walk quietly out the door, while angry ones will shout and fill out every form in sight.  But stats like these might give good reason to nudge the quiet types towards review sites and online forums.

Don’t forget to respond to online complaints, too; even if things are written in poor English and all caps, readers are likely to wonder whether the person on the other end had a genuinely bad experience.

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Despite some negative predictions, Google nailed another earnings report yesterday.  The search giant just can’t lose.  And for you, this probably means some pretty good things.

If you happen to own any Google stock, its 20 percent rise certainly can’t qualify as bad.  Granted, the stock remains far below its $747 high, but an increase of $95 per share in 18 hours’ time is nice.

Then there’s what this signifies for users of Google’s products.  As long as the company continues to do so well, payouts and upgrades should keep streaming right along.

Google’s success might also mean good things for the online economy as a whole.  People are apparently placing ads, clicking on them, and doing all the other things that generate cash at a faster pace than ever.  The recession doesn’t seem to have taken hold.

At least for the moment, the company’s success seems to equal a win for everyone.

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To anyone whose business is at the exact center of a city, this may not be great news.  But everyone else - which is probably the majority of people - seems to have been given a chance to get better positions in Google’s local business results.

In the old days (AKA last week and before), whatever business was closest to the center of a city was what Google stuck atop its listings.  Never mind if the business was small or big, new or old - if it was closer to the center of the city than everything else, it got a more prominent ranking.

Now, no one seems to be quite sure what goes into the standings, but they no longer follow geographic location alone.  On Search Engine Roundtable, Barry Schwartz points to where his own company has gained the “A” designation - even though a competitor is nearer to the middle of Suffern, NY - and other examples exist on the Search Engine Watch Forums.

Getting the top spot in Google’s local business results should be a valuable prize, and it’s likely to become even more important as people keep transitioning away from traditional phone books.

Check where your business stands, and if it’s not already ahead of the competition, perhaps see what sorts of reviews you can generate.

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If you don’t want to deal with SEO issues, that’s fine; some people have a knack for or interest in stuff that others simply don’t share.  But do yourself a favor and keep an eye on the final product.

Loren Baker brought up the issue of outsourcing yesterday.  Again, there’s nothing wrong with the concept, but a lot of money can be lost depending on how many levels the hand-off goes through.  When a company shows you a shiny new building, then hires another company that hires another company with a guy “working in a basement office with mattresses on the floor,” you’re likely overpaying.

Even aside from the cost, there can be issues with this scenario.  The basement guy may not have all the formal training and up-to-date equipment you were led to expect.  Or his tactics may not be as “white hat” as you’d like.

This isn’t to say you need to be on a first-name basis with an outside firm’s every employee, or check in on your own guys (or girls) every five minutes if tasks get handed off in a more limited fashion.  Just stay aware of the situation.

And as one last note: in the event this leads you to consider using software instead of people, well . . . think again.

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Blog, blog, and blog some more to promote yourself or your business, I’ve said in the past.  It’s a good idea, all right, but today we’ll look at a couple of things you need to be careful about.

An article by Geoff Simon identifies those things as medical and legal advice.  From there, you may be able to imagine a few more possibilities, but deaths and/or bankruptcies are pretty bad outcomes, so it seems best to concentrate on them.

Simon writes, “A blog that gives any sort of advice regarding either of these professions is simply asking for trouble. . . .  [I]t is inevitable that someone will take information from one of these sites, apply it to his own life, and meet with utter disaster. Then the blogger, his company, and probably the web server will become embroiled in a lawsuit.”

Simon goes on to close one possible “out,” adding, “Naturally, there would be an argument about personal responsibility and the fact that there was a disclaimer on the site discouraging action without receiving professional advice.  Yet disclaimers seem to have little impact on lawsuits anymore and most people admit to skipping over them when perusing a site.”

No one’s saying doctors and lawyers shouldn’t blog - the former could write about getting in new lollipops, at least - but a certain amount of caution certainly seems necessary.  Consider if the same sort of care needs to be taken when you’re writing; it’s hard to imagine that lawsuits are much fun.

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While using the snazziest possible methods to attract customers or readers is one approach, new stats underline the importance of keeping everything simple and friendly, too.  Jakob Nielsen reports that only 76 percent of the people in a certain group managed to do something as easy as perform a search on Google.

Nielsen writes, “Also, for this round of research we’re deliberately recruiting above-average users, so the success rate across all Internet users is probably lower than our finding. . . .  So, the fact that 1/4 of users can’t do it is a striking demonstration that you can’t rely on your own experience if you want to reach a broader audience.”

Gigantic “Click Here” signs, followed by instructions on whether to left- or right-click, might be a little much, but when considering both marketing and design, user-friendliness deserves some consideration.

Also, as speakers at SES New York and an entry on the Google Webmaster Central Blog have emphasized in the last week or so, search engines often appreciate high levels of usability, so you’ll be doing yourself a favor in more ways than one.

Hat tip to Tamar Weinberg.

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St. Patrick’s Day is approaching, and so - with no disrespect meant by mixing nations - now seems like a good time to look at a comparison of British pubs and social media.  A lot of good ideas about the former can apparently be arrived at after visiting one of the latter.

Matt Bailey’s the lucky bloke who went to the Twin Farms pub in Newcastle.  He discovered that it contained no televisions or jukeboxes, which cut down on distractions and put a focus on conversation.  This created a strong sense of community.

Regular customers were also comfortable and loyal enough to refer to the place as “my pub.”  Bailey notes, “Unless you feel a sense of pride in what is being built and a sense of participation in the success, then you don’t have a true investment in the community.”

So we wind up with dependable, happy, people who are more than willing to chat.  And yet, while these observations should encourage people to promote their products or services on social media sites, it’s still wise to take things slow.

In a follow-up to Bailey’s article, Jennifer Laycock points out that respecting the locals is an important part of entering a community.  And, to once again bring up an Irish theme, the thought of a certain bar scene in “The Boondock Saints” should remind everyone that social types don’t always want to mix business with pleasure.

In any event, Happy Saint Patrick’s Day.

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