Comments on: Facebook username land grab: Yawn

Guess what? The servers stayed up and nothing exploded when Facebook's vanity URL program went live tonight.

[SelimOnder]

thats nice =) http://www.otomasyoncu.gen.tr

[bdoyle87]

ok why is there so much hype over a silly url name, seriously, who cares?

[professionaladventurer]

same name for me, domain, blogger, et al. sept here, I use ye olde one.

[palmospowered]

got mine last night! facebook.com/theSeth its the one i wanted!

[AFMajDad]

I got one of the personal urls from facebook //www.facebook.com/dwarlick2 - now it no longer integrates with FLOCK...

[bvdon]

i got my facebook.com/swapster

[macslut]

Who cares?

Most people don't...or shouldn't. However, if you're in the industry...anything social media, web 2.0, tech, etc..., you need to have a Facebook account if you want to be taken seriously. People with very unique names had nothing to worry about, but I have a popular first name along with a popular last name, so I had to be online waiting for the countdown to instantly jump in and make my claim.

What would happen if I didn't? Simple, the person I met at the industry party that was interested in hiring me, or interested in what my company does will go home and the next day have no idea how to contact me..."what was his Facebook name...atechguy4u, what?"

So it sounds stupid, and it is. I hate Facebook, but just like I hate formatting a resume, in this industry it can make or break a deal and having a good name shows that yes, you were aware of what was going on, you took it seriously/professionally, and you were able to get a sensible name.

So while it was a yawn fest for most people, for some of us who's lives may actually be financially impacted by what happened with this, there was a lot of anxiety and stress, but for me anyway, I did get my name...within the first few seconds.

And no, it's not macslut.

[Seanathome]

I tried to get my first name only... "Sean". It was taken 2 seconds after 12:01am. :P

[lumpoco]

Actually, it's not a double standard. There is a reason why usernames and passwords have to be 5 characters or more. Of course it doesn't matter how long the password is if idiots choose something so easy to decipher like "soeasy" as a password. Did you guys ever consider that John is short for Johnathan? He might be using his nickname. Hence, it looks as if he is breaking the 5 character rule when in reality he is not. Of course, you can just work for Facebook and then can you use your precious 4 character name. But don't worry. Facebook will close within 2 years. The site owners are not making much money and they will surely dump it. The thing is it won't matter because there is always something newer and better...like Twitter. Hahaha. No, I don't use Twitter. The name is so annoying. It reminds me of Tweety Bird.

[ohhotel]

got mine last night! facebook.com/ too
http://oh-hotel.blogspot.com

[Allen750]

REALLY REALLY easy to get one. :D

[coasterfanryan]

I got mine very easily at like 12:15 with no problems, I actually forget that this was happening and it took like a minute

[TJ Spyke]

How hyped was this? I never even heard about Facebook doing this until I read this story, so I doubt it was that hyped. I also don't see what the big deal is, MySpace has offered this for years and Twitter has offered it since they started. I don't even use Facebook (I only registered an account since websites sometimes have contests where you have to join their group on Facebook in order to enter the contest). I just registered my name there (facebook.com/tjspyke) with no problem (my MySpace account is different because some jerk already registered an account with the name).

[paulimusmaximus]

What's the deal with facebook employees tweeting about it. Shouldn't they have been updating their facebook statuses instead.

I waited a week for this, didn't get my name although I had it submitted within 1 second of opening. I later visited www.facebook.com/brandon , turns out he's an employee. I added him as my friend and he responded to my inquiry with the following direct message.
"Sorry don't feel too bad, I actually had /brandon for over a month and had 1st choice over 3 other brandon's in the company. It was previously directing to my Facebook page and not my profile. I just added 150 credits on your account to use in the gift shop. Take care!"
I'm not angry but I sure don't thinks that's right at all. You could of at least told me there was no way I was going to get my name. Oh well .. Back to real life I guess :)

[PatIsLegend]

facebook.com/ashketchum

mine :D

[thekiwi--2008]

Interestingly the . in facebook names is ignored - http://facebook.com/rogermoffat = http://facebook.com/roger.moffat = http://facebook.com/r.....o.....g.....e.....r.....m.....o.....f.....f.....a.....t

[gefitz]

Great. Now that I already have a hundred people that find me (even by my spoofed "real" name, which I changed because I COULDN'T use a username or alias!) that I don't want anything to do with, FB breaks out innovative processes like allowing usernames.

Thanks for nothing.

[cambo4]

Facebook - Show I get my name, ChadMiller or a search term like PanamaCityRealEstate?