Filed under: Social Software, Web
Facebook vanity URLs coming this week
Users who already have Facebook accounts won't be left out in the cold. They'll be able to grab vanity URLs on a first come first served basis by visiting facebook.com/username. You'll only be able to get one username per profile, so odds are you're going to want to use either your real name, or whatever internet handle you use most often.
Once you pick a username you will not be able to change it. And if you've signed up for a new account recently, you might not be able to snag a username right away because Facebook is taking steps to prevent cybersquatters from rushing in, creating dozens of account names today and mucking up the system come Saturday.
How significant is this whole vanity URL thing? Well on the one hand, it definitely gives people a useful tool to maintain their online identities. On the other hand, seriously, it's June, 2009 and Facebook hasn't rolled out this feature until now? Twitter, MySpace, and even search engine Google already let you have URLs that match your profile names.
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Todd said 5:00PM on 6-09-2009
"...Facebook is taking steps to prevent cybersquatters from rushing in."
How? They cannot prevent anyone from creating multiple new accounts.
It's an old fashion land grab. You'll see all the usual suspect names for sale on ebay ...facebook.com/pepsi, facebook.com/billgates, facebook.com/britneyspears, facebook.com/bradlinder, etc.
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wrs589 said 5:40PM on 6-09-2009
Any new account made around the launch of this will have a delay until they can set a URL. Stops multiple signups.
Nothing stopping someone who already has an account setting up a brand name URL though.
Jash Sayani said 9:46AM on 6-10-2009
This will definitely create a shortage of Usernames, as all of them will be consumed in hours after launch !
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WPThemes said 8:01AM on 6-13-2009
Thanks for the info!
I got my name as the username.
You don't need 1,000 Fans to get your own username.
Your Facebook account must be registered before June 9 as the only criteria.
Mike
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mark kolb said 4:30PM on 6-30-2009
If you missed out getting your FB vanity name, get a .TEL instead @ http://www.mytel.me with your name at a cool domain.
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