My partner Stephen sent me a tweet he saw this morning about Facebook vanity URLs. Now, I typically spend about an hour or two in the evenings inside the Facebook Developers area and this was the first time that I had heard anything about it.
I searched the forums and didn’t see not one single mention about them, but it’s true they do exist for a few folks that Facebook has apparently brought in to help them test this offering before it goes public. Just like anything that is tied in w/ Facebook, you can bet that whatever this vanity URL service turns out the be, we are all going to want it…
Facebook is getting wise to something MySpace has known from the start – users love vanity URLs. When you tell someone your MySpace page, you just say myspace.com/[user/brand/band/etc.] (I’m myspace.com/mikearrington). On Facebook it has always been more difficult.
My profile isn’t Facebook.com/michaelarrington, it’s facebook.com/profile.php?id=500065899. Not so catchy, and the result is people need to do searches to find you. MySpace vanity URLs are popular for the same reason people like domain names instead of just typing in IP addresses.
Facebook’s policy on this is clearly changing, at least for Pages (where bands, celebrities, brands, etc. have their Facebook presence). Facebook has always had a few vanity URLs associated with Pages, like Facebook.com/U2. They made it clear last August, though, that most people couldn’t get them:
Unfortunately we are not currently able to approve requests for vanity URLs. The only Pages that presently have vanity URLs are bands and businesses that partnered with us for the initial launch of this new product. We hope to make these URLs available for everyone to have on their individual Page(s) in the future. When this feature is available, we will provide instructions on how to obtain a vanity URL at http://www.facebook.com/help.php?page=60. We apologize for any inconvenience in the mean time.
Now, though, Facebook seems to be letting more people have vanity URLs. Kevin Rose celebrated getting one earlier today, for example. Ashton Kutcher also has one, as does Demi Moore. The TechCrunch Page, alas, does not (hover over that link, whoa).
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