Webware

Marketer and avid Twitterer Ian Schafer gives his perspective.

(Credit: Twitter)

The servers didn't crash, the system didn't go haywire, and no locusts started spewing out of anyone's monitors when Facebook let its 200-million-plus members reserve customized URLs on Saturday at 12:01 AM Eastern. 200,000 user names were reserved in a matter of three minutes, according to Twitter posts from Facebook employees.

"Well, that was anti-climactic. Worked, no bugs, and I got my name," someone told me in an instant message. "Was exciting for a hot second though!"

I did notice some Facebook pages loading more slowly than usual. After all, the whole thing was hyped beyond belief, at least in certain circles. My Twitter feed was bogged down with "countdown"-related tweets and people proudly announcing their new URLs, but it's unclear how many people who aren't affiliated with the tech or media industries actually cared. Regardless, Facebook appears to have carried this out very smoothly, undoubtedly with beefed-up server power in place to streamline the process.

But it's not over for Facebook. Now, the social network will have to deal with an invariably bloated degree of customer service complaints, as well as a likely stream of legal inquiries pertaining to copyrights and trademarks.

For the moment, however, it appears to have been even less eventful than the so-called "Twitpocalypse" that freaked out the blogosphere earlier on Friday.

UPDATE (9:33 p.m. PT): We've heard from a few people who were trying to grab their first names and couldn't--even though the names didn't appear to be reserved already. One of them speculates that Facebook may have simply "cancelled out" some popular names.

(Credit: Facebook)

Facebook's 200-plus million members will be able to customize the URLs to their profiles starting at midnight Eastern on Saturday, according to a post on the Facebook blog. Currently, users' profile URLs have been structured as a string of numbers. At least for now, it doesn't look like the switch is mandatory.

This is a move that will help Facebook profiles get better traction in search engines, potentially upping traffic--and give people-search sites a run for their money in the process. For brands whose "fan pages" are a crucial part of Facebook's marketing and advertising strategy, it'll make their pages easier for people to access without needing to click around much.

But there's fine print! "Think carefully about the user name you choose. Once it's been selected, you won't be able to change or transfer it," the post by Facebook's Blaise DiPersia read. "If you signed up for a Facebook Page after May 31 or a user profile after today at 3 p.m. EDT, you may not be able to sign up for a user name immediately because of steps we've taken to prevent abuse or 'squatting' on names."

There's something significant here: not being able to change or transfer your Facebook name means that it's less likely there will be a big market for them on eBay, Craigslist, or elsewhere, something that could easily get out of hand otherwise.

Also: "We expect to offer even more ways to use your Facebook user name in the future," DiPersia wrote. Presumably, this means that you'll be able to use it for Facebook Connect log-ins on external sites, rather than your e-mail address.

We go through the methods and pitfalls of buying, selling, and registering domain names.

Domain Pigeon, the domain finding service that lets you search and browse unclaimed domains, now does the same thing for Twitter usernames. It shows you which names are unclaimed, and puts some of the most recent or popular additions on the front page, where you're able to see which ones other users are clicking on.

As with domain names you can filter down the results to see only names with three or four letters, although to do so you must be a paid, registered user of the site. Those users can also see a larger, and more complete index of names.

Creator Matt Mazur tells me that his service is indexing a few hundred names a day, and that there are "quite a few good ones left." In what feels like an amusing throwback to the days when low-digit ICQ numbers were a hot commodity, Mazur's put a live countdown of how many three-letter usernames are left. As of me writing this there are a little more than 17,800 still available.

Domain Pigeon can now search through open Twitter usernames in addition to Web domains.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Why is this such a big deal? Three is the current minimum Twitter users are able to have. And for a service where the number of followers matters, the smaller your name the more important you may appear to be. More importantly, someone starting a site can check to see if both the domain and Twitter URL are open within the same search.

The one area where this service may become a problem is that could greatly increase the pace in which people are hoarding usernames. This means good business for Domain Pigeon, but a potential surplus of registered--but inactive--users for Twitter.

So do users who snatch these up get to cash out like they can with domain squatting? Potentially. Brands and businesses with trademarks could send Twitter a legal notice to claim what it rightfully theirs (like Marvel did), but for users simply trying to get their first or last name it's turning into a mad, mad rush.

12seconds, a service that lets users tell others what they're up to in 12-second videos, announced Thursday that it has launched a new service called, 12omercial. The company hopes the service will become the "tweetable video commercial." Brand sponsors and companies will be asking users to create 12omercials on their behalf. Those who record the best video will receive "12 seconds of fame to goods and other prizes, as determined by the sponsor." All the videos can be added to Twitter, uploaded to Facebook, or embedded into a blog.

So far, 12seconds has signed on two sponsors--LG and Xobni. LG's sponsorship will go live with the launch of the site. The company is asking users to talk about the "things they do with their phones that they probably shouldn't be doing" to promote the company's new device, the Versa. The Xobni sponsorship will start next week.

TunesBag, a site that lets users upload music files and stream those over the Web, announced Thursday that it has launched an Adobe AIR application for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The app allows users to buy tracks through Amazon and iTunes and share those songs with friends on social networks. Any songs on the user's computer can also be added to the library and played either on the desktop or through the company's online app. The TunesBag desktop app is free to download.

WatchMojo, a site that provides professionally-produced instructional videos, announced Thursday that it has hosted more than 50 million video views since its launch. According to the company, its growth has doubled in the past few months and its production costs have remained relatively stable. It expects that dynamic to continue going forward.

Business domain marketplace BuyDomains launched the company's first domain name referral program Thursday. Dubbed the BuyDomains Referral Program, the service will allow users to earn money by selling domains from the NameMedia domain portfolio, as well as sites owned by individual domain investors. Those who sign up for the program will download a configurable widget that provides consumers with access to the company's inventory of domain names. The program is live now.

Domize, a domain-finding search tool that launched around this time last year, has a new advanced search mode. Like Google it now lets you craft searches with modifiers that can either leave certain words out, or find synonyms that can help you get around common words that may have already been taken.

For instance, a search where I included a like modifier for the word "revolution" gave me words like rotation, gyration, and change. You can combine this with another word, or words of your choice, and it will continue to sniff out open domains combined with each of the synonyms it originally came up with. There are also a slew of other modifiers, including the option to experiment with alternate spellings by mixing up vowels and consonants. There's also a modifier that can randomly affix various endings to the word you're searching for, like throwing a -ing, -ed, -est, or -er.

Using a modifier for colors Domize can search through variations of colors alongside whatever word or words are around it.

(Credit: CNET)

In all cases the results show you which domains are open and for sale (for .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .mobi, and .us only). The ones that are taken show up in red and hovering over them with your mouse gives you a preview of what the site looks like. The ones that are still available are blue and link directly to domain registrar GoDaddy. You can also set it to link to Dotster, Network Solutions, and Moniker.

While Domize is useful, I still think you get more bang for your buck from Bust A Name (coverage). I find that search tool a little easier to use, and it lets you find the best deal on the domain by showing you how much it costs from multiple registrars at the same time.

You can give Domize a try below, although for now it appears that the search modifiers only work on the main site.

A free Web site and hosting from Microsoft? It's true.

(Credit: Microsoft)

The words "free" and "Microsoft" don't often appear in the same sentence, so imagine my surprise at discovering this deal: a free custom domain name, free Web hosting, free e-mail accounts, and more.

As you might expect from the name, Microsoft Office Live Small Business has a decidedly business focus--but that doesn't mean you can't use it for a personal site.

The freebie account includes not only the domain (any available .com, .net, .org, or .info address), but also site-building tools, reporting tools, project and document managers, 100 e-mail addresses, and collaboration-minded online workspaces. You get 500MB of storage, too.

So what's the catch? There really isn't one, though the free domain hosting expires after one year. After that, it'll run you a very reasonable $14.95 annually.

Needless to say, this is a pretty nice offer for anyone looking to start a small business or just carve out a private corner of the Web.

Side deal: Amazon MP3 has Brit-pop star Lily Allen's second album, It's Not Me, It's You, on sale for just $3.99. iTunes price: $9.99.

There are far too many domain search and purchasing tools, but I haven't found one that does it like Domain Pigeon. The service tracks domains that are still available and puts them in an index that can be searched and sorted in all manner of ways.

Domain Pigeon's secret sauce, however, is that it shows you what other users have been looking at, right down to how many have clicked on any specific domain name. Domains that have gotten more attention darken in color, with the heavy hitters bubbling up to the top.

To encourage registration (which costs a one-time fee of $15), users who sign-up can view and search from a larger catalog of domain names. As of me writing this it's a difference of an extra 5,000 or so domains once you register.

While the site doesn't actually sell domains--something you have to do with a registration service--it can be a good source of inspiration for people who have not found a good name for their service. Of course, if you're trying to be secretive about that process, you're probably better off using something that won't be showing your search queries to a gaggle of other users.

Domains are tracked for popularity on clicks, and when you click on one it shows you how many other people have as well.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

See also:
Bust A Name: Best domain name helper ever
Eleven steps to buying a domain name that doesn't suck
What's in a domain name?

Nombray is a new site that lets you buy vanity domains for your name. The service is aimed at people with very little experience setting up a Web site, letting them "squat" the page while funneling any traffic to third-party services they're already using.

On Nombray's home page, you simply type in your first and last name, and the site will search to see which coordinating domains have been taken and which are still available. From there, you're able to claim available domains for $20 a pop, which gets you a free year of hosting and a page designer with which you can link to various social-networking profiles, such as those for Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. These sites, along with any other URLs you plug in, will show up like tabs on the top of the page, and visitors can simply click on them to flip between profiles while the Nombray navigation frame remains.

If you've already purchased a domain through another service (like GoDaddy or Domain.com) you can simply link up to it and have Nombray host the page for $10 a year. This offers a little less than a service like WordPress Premium, which charges $15 a year for custom domain registration and hosting (along with a pretty swell blogging platform). I do, however, like that Nombray keeps a frame on the top of the page so your visitors can quickly toggle between activities--it's a nice touch.

Nombray hosts a page for users with top links to their various social-networking profiles, blogs, or Web sites. It also searches the Web to show if domains using their name are available.

(Credit: CNET Networks)