The easiest way to protect your brand is to immediately reserve your preferred username on all social media websites, just in case you decide to use that space in the future. Few things are as frustrating as preparing to build communication in a new social media, only to find someone is squatting on your brand or username. Remedies are often simply unavailable.

These three sites help: namechk, KnowEm and friendscallme. All three are helpful, but friendscallme offers a free service that sets it apart.

Like namechk and KnowEm, myfriendscallme checks a large list of social media for your preferred username. However, it offers a free service to notify you when a new social media comes along and provides a place to document all your social media accounts in one public place.

The simple drag and drop, point and click UI makes it a simple process to [claim] all your social media accounts. Another nice feature is the simplified categorization of these social media sites. You can peruse the categories and check, then sign up for accounts in each category.

You can set your preferences for notification by category as well, to be notified by email or not.

They also offer tracking for your friendscallme profile views, a nice little vanity pet.