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Facebook Usernames and URLs up for grabs

By Joe Conlon, Friday, 22nd June 2012 | 1 comments
Filed under: Social Networking.

Facebook have announced that registered users can now have a more personalised Facebook URL (or username) on their accounts, e.g. www.facebook.com/webtrade. Facebook's idea is to make user profiles much more user friendly to type in, remember, and find.

They'll also be friendlier for search engines to find than the normal long-winded URL format like http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dublin-Ireland/Webtrade/90442450438. It's basically your personalised Facebook Home Page URL.

So from June 13 2009, you'll be able to choose this unique Facebook username/URL. Names are allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis. This pretty much means 'land grab', so the best Facebook names will go fast, and facebook users should register their personal URL as quickly as possible, or be left with having to choose obscure usernames, or ones with numbers, e.g. 'webtrade23' etc.

Go to www.facebook.com/username/ to claim your personalised Facebook URL or username. If your first choice username isn't available, then Facebook will give you some other suggestions or you can search your own username choice.

If you're band new to Facebook, or created your account after June 9th 2009, then you won't be able to choose your personalised URL just yet. Facebook are only allowing people with existing accounts to setup their personalised URL/username for now. This makes sense, as Facebook are looking after their existing users first, before opening up to the masses. They'll notify newly registered users when they'll be able to create their own unique username.

Facebook plan other uses for the new username system in the future, so watch this space.