In just over one hour, at 9pm PST, FacebookFacebook
usernames will open up to the public. You will be able to grab a vanity URL for your Facebook profile or page (i.e. Facebook.com/Mashable). However, you’ll be competing against a slew of other users for the URL you desire. So what should you know before the Facebook Usernames rush begins? And what could all of this mean for the social web?
Well, we’ve come to the source to get the answers to those questions We are LIVE from Facebook Headquarters in Palo Alto, California with the Facebook team as they launch Facebook Usernames into the wild. But while we await the main event, here are some things you should know about Facebook Usernames to assure a smooth experience:
What are Facebook usernames?
Facebook usernames are an attempt to make Facebook profiles and pages easily shareable. Basically, usernames affect your profile’s URL. For example, the current URL for my Facebook profile is this:
Facebook.com/people/Ben-Parr/2407611
Not exactly the easiest URL to share in the world. After today though, my Facebook URL will be as follows:
Facebook.com/BenParr
This is a much easier URL to remember and share with others. It encourages sharing, friending, and increased activity on Facebook. It follows in the footsteps of TwitterTwitter
and MySpaceMySpace
, both of which offer the vanity URL.
Facebook pages also have the option to register usernames, but as we reported earlier, your page has to have over 1000 fans to quality. Otherwise you’ll have to wait until the end of the month to register a custom URL. If you want to protect your trademark, visit this page to register it with Facebook.
What will happen tonight?
At 12:01 ET/9:01 PT, users will be able to register a username by visiting Facebook.com/Username. This page will launch with the ability to register a username at that time.
Default choices are variation of your full name, but you can choose your own custom username. However, if someone else has taken it before you, you’re out of luck, so register your URL quickly. Usernames can only have numbers, letters, and periods, so no special characters or hyphens. Once you have chosen a username, you cannot change it, so choose wisely. Rushing it could result in a mistake that cannot be fixed.
Live from Facebook Headquarters
Because we want to get you information on the Facebook Username rush, both good and bad, we are on location at Facebook’s offices. If you have a question about usernames, if you find a bug, or just want to let your discontent known, be sure to add it to the comments of our Facebook Username posts. We promise you, Facebook is reading.
