Facebook reveals date for usernames debut

Registration rush for vanity URLs to begin 5am on 13 June

10 June 2009 9:28 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Would you like your own personalised Facebook URL? Facebook has expanded on its plans to offer Facebook usernames, that will see a slash-your-name URL, rather than a series of random numbers, and the rush to register will begin on 13 June.

Facebook says: "Starting at 12:01am EDT on Saturday, June 13, you'll be able to choose a username on a first-come, first-serve basis for your profile and the Facebook Pages that you administer by visiting www.facebook.com/username/."

There are some restrictions - Facebook usernames will be available in basic text forms, and you can only choose a single username for your profile and for each of the Pages that you administer. Your username must be at least five characters in length and only include alphanumeric characters, or a period or full stop. Names will not be able to be changed after selection.

To protect from name squatters, Facebook is not offering usernames to anyone registering for the social networking service from now on, although presumably these rules will be relaxed after the first rush is over.

And, to further entice users to get involved in the new scheme, Facebook says : "We expect to offer even more ways to use your Facebook username in the future".

This scheme has already been opened up to companies on Facebook, with mobile phone manufacturer HTC tweeting recently: "It took a little doing, but we finally got our name on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/HTC stop by and become a fan".

Via: blog.facebook.com

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