By Jessica E. Vascellaro
This Saturday, Facebook users get to replace the string of numbers Facebook has assigned them as a profile name with a personalized URL based on their real name, or another alias they choose.
Facebook
Your username here
This means Facebook users can find each other by remembering the address of a profile–tough to do currently, since profiles are currently in a format like www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=12345678. If users have opted to make their profiles public, anyone could get to them by typing in the new URLs too.
What’s the point? Some people want to use their Facebook page like a personal home page, viewable to anyone searching for them. One obstacle now is that many people have the same first and last names, making searching difficult. Facebook says the change will make it easier to find people or businesses through its own site or through Google or other search engines, since the new URLs can be unique and more easily remembered.
Users should pick wisely. Not only are they stuck with what they pick, but you never know where else these names might pop up. “We expect to offer even more ways to use your Facebook username in the future,” said Facebook designer Blaise DiPersia, in a blog post announcing the program.
Read more at Digit.com
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/06/10/what%E2%80%99s-in-a-new-facebook-username/
June 11th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
They should have done this a while ago or at least used mod_rewrite. Just my 2 cents…