Facebook Vanity
I wasn’t going to write this; everyone is writing this. But maybe you’ve heard; it’s kind of a big deal. Facebook is jumping on the vanity URL bandwagon.
Put simply this means you will be able to reserve facebook.com/yournamehere. This is something you can already do with LinkedIn and MySpace, but folks are buzzing as Facebook is arguably bigger than those two sites combined.
The vanity URLs are available for people and brands alike, though brands need to have at least 1,000 Facebook fans. So don’t be surprised when you start seeing advertisements that list a brand’s Facebook site instead of normal corporate site.
You’ll also start seeing these addresses on business cards, and they’ll likely rise in search engine result pages.
Names are available on a first come, first served basis, and Facebook has said they are nontransferrable, which will hopefully prevent squatters from sitting on valuable brand names. It also means you’re unlikely to get your preferred URL if your name is John Smith. Our thoughts are with all of our readers named John Smith.
The rush to get your vanity URL starts when the clock strikes 11:01 p.m. (CDT) tonight.
Blog guru Anil Dash wrote some thoughts on the future of Facebook usernames that are worth reading.
Fair warning: it’s thick with sarcasm, social media references and meta self-reference.
Tags: facebook, online reputation
