One of the shortcomings of Twitter is that it can be find to hard to find people — even people that you're following — when you don't have their Twitter ID right smack in front of your nose. Sure, you can go hunting and pecking in TweetDeck, or do a Google or Twitter people search, but that's a pain.

Sometimes it can make for a guessing game. What's Doc Searls' Twitter handle again? Not www.twitter.com/docsearls (if you go there you'll get Twitter's "That page doesn't exist" message, shown at top. Doc is actually at @dsearls. It may not be a large number, but I'd guess that at least a few people type twitter.com/docsearls into their Web browser and leave, assuming that Doc doesn't Twitter, when his tweets are well worth following.

Similarly, you won't find Amy Gahran at @amygahran, but at @agahran. Rebecca MacKinnon and Huntley Tarrant, smartly, have shortened their Twitter handles to @rmack and @huntleymt, respectively, though have no pointers there.

Now, I'm no scold, but I don't like wasting time, and it takes only a few seconds for anyone to claim their real name on Twitter (assuming no one else has grabbed it), and then point people to the Twitter ID that you prefer. And more important, by claiming your real name on Twitter, you'll be heading off some possible mischief down the road, as some squatter may swoop in, steal your identity and use it for untoward purposes.

A lot of people already do this, like Tara Hunt, who prefers the handle @missrogue. Or Beth Kanter, who tweets at @kanter and uses @bethkanter for stream feeds.

I brought this up last month during a conference call with David Mathison to promote his new book, Be the Media. He had registered his book's title on Twitter — but not his own name. "David," I suggested, "you should register @davidmathison and point people to your book's Twitter ID." He found the suggestion useful and grabbed the ID a few hours later.

Web identity is coming to increasingly to define who we are in life, and we may decide to use an Internet handle or our real name for our Twitter IDs (mine is just @jdlasica). We're now not just users but brands.

So help people find your brand.

JD Lasica is founder of Socialmedia.biz. We work with large companies and nonprofits on social media strategies and campaigns. See JD's business profile, contact him or leave a comment.