The Lead

« Did you hear that? Me, too. | Main | Measuring The Value »

Facebook Launches Vanity URLs - Do you need to grab your brand's name?

Posted by Jason Swartz on June 10, 2009 at June 10, 2009 2:36 PM

By now, your organization probably has one or more Facebook profiles or fan pages. Here's some important news from the site:

Starting at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Saturday, June 13, you'll be able to choose a username for your Facebook account to easily direct friends, family, and coworkers to your profile.

Currently, Facebook-profile URLs are long and contain many parameters. For example, John Doe's URL might read:

www.facebook.com/.php?id=123456789

Beginning Friday, Facebook members (including businesses) will be able to choose a "vanity" URL, providing an easier way to share your profile and allow people (and search engines) to find you. For example, John Doe's new URL might read:

www.facebook.com/johndoe

What to Do
If your company has a Facebook profile or fan page, you should take advantage of your own vanity URL - both for branding purposes and to prevent someone else from hijacking your company's name. Facebook has provided businesses the opportunity to do this ahead of the launch. Just fill out this form and someone from the Facebook team should be in touch with you.

A more detailed overview of this topic can be found on the Facebook blog.

Ultimately, unique/custom URLs go beyond Facebook making your Web properties more memorable and findable and giving users an idea of who you are and what you're about. In a cluttered world of over 100 million Web sites, this can be a small differentiator with a big impact.

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.psbblog.com/mt-tb.cgi/201

Comments

Post a comment

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: