Despite its popularity, Facebook has several conspicuous usability issues. One that has long bugged me is how ugly the URLs of Facebook user profiles are. Here’s mine: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=504695562.
Ick. Along with being messy, the long URL makes it difficult for people to find and friend each other via Facebook. That will soon change. Starting Saturday, June 13, at 12:01 a.m. EDT, Facebook will begin issuing vanity URLs for user profiles and fan pages.
The change marks an important move for news organizations. The Chicago Tribune‘s fan page, for example, currently has this ugly URL: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=504695562#/pages/Chicago-Tribune/5953023255?sid=ecbe27b18c1d4db477e5ecb0cfe504bd&ref=search.
If the Tribune creates a vanity URL once the feature becomes available, the URL could change to http://facebook.com/chicagotribune.
Here are additional details about the feature and information about where to register. It’s first-come, first-served.
Even if your Facebook use is minimal, it’s a good idea to register the username that corresponds to your name or brand to keep a squatter from snatching it. If you don’t grab yours, someone could take it — and who knows how difficult it could be to get Facebook to hand it over to you.
If you hold a registered trademark for your brand name, Facebook will allow you to reserve that username, even if you don’t know how you’ll use it on Facebook just yet. You can do that right now; here’s the form.
Not every media outlet has had to wait for the doors to open. I noticed earlier this week that the Huffington Post‘s vanity URL is already working: facebook.com/HuffingtonPost, as is The New York Times‘.
Also, some journalists who cover Facebook haven’t had to wait in line. On June 10, TechCrunch‘s Michael Arrington reported:
“In an e-mail today, Facebook told me: ‘We wanted to let you know that we decided to reserve usernames for the key journalists and outlets we work with. Look out for an e-mail from someone on the communications team with more details.’ Other writers here at TechCrunch got the same e-mail.”
Of this, San Jose Mercury News journalist Chris O’Brien said: “At the risk of sounding old fashioned, are there ethical questions about journos getting special access to Facebook vanity URLs?” Mercury News reporter Scott Harris was transparent about the issue in a recent piece about the URLs, saying: “Disclosure: Facebook has set aside scottharris.”
