cruel to be kind

In addition to my "Friends help Friends: Get more than 100 fans for your Facebook Fan page" I got some questions about how to get the special url up and running. Thus, a quick how-to. 

Step 1: Plan your page

Since today Facebook Fan pages can have vanity urls too. Meaning instead of the ugly

http://www.facebook.com/pages/the-long-name-you-chose/the-id-facebook-gave-you

you could have:

http://www.facebook.com/yourchoiceofname

In order to set the Facebook vanity url for your fan page, there are several things which need to be in place first.

• You need to be admin of the page in question
• It seems you also may need a verified account
• You need to know which name you want for that page. Because once you have set it, you can never change it.

Facebook lists the following restrictions:

• Create a username that is as close as possible to your public figure or business name (e.g. AshtonKutcher, PizzaHut).
• If you own the rights to a given name, make it your username so that others cannot obtain it.
• Usernames can only contain alphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9) or a period (".").
• Choose a username you will be happy with for the long term. Usernames are not transferable.
• Your username must adhere to Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

Step 2: Choose your vanity url

For choosing your pages url, visit http://www.facebook.com/username/. You will see something similar to this:

This means, that I have set my personal username and in the bottom you do find the "Set username for your pages". Click on this and you will see a new selection: 

Now, if my page for the Global Business Women had enough fans, I could now choose to enter a name for them and show you the rest. ;)

Step 3: Setting the URL

I will follow with more information once I have a page over 100 fans to check how this goes ;)

Further information from the help entry from Facebook:

• Infringement:
  If you wish to report that someone’s username infringes your rights, please fill out our username infringement form. The form is located here.
• I am an authorized representative for a public figure, brand or business and/or hold the rights to a trademark name. My username was claimed by another user. What can I do?
  If you wish to report that someone’s username infringes your rights, please fill out our username IP infringement form.
• What is the process to request removal of an unauthorized Page of a public figure, brand or business?
  If you wish to report that someone’s username infringes your rights, all you need to do is fill out our username IP infringement form here.
• Will usernames such as "flowers" or "pizza" ever be available for Facebook Pages? Can I sign up on a waiting list?
  At this time, generic words are not available as usernames. Facebook encourages all users and Page administrators to create a username that closely matches the true identity of their name or business.

Summary: Helping friends get over 100 fans in order to claim their FB Fan page. Add your Fan page to the list and add yourself to some of the others. Please use the tag #FHF100 for twitter and co.

Starting today, you can have a vanity Facebook URL for your Facebook Fan page. At least that was the idea when I went to bed yesterday - only to find out this morning, that you actually need 100 fans to do that.

Many pages have enough fans, but others don’t. Instead of trying to ’suggest’ them to your friends I thought it might be easier to start a small “help a friend” project. Goal: Get over 100 fans to be able to claim your username.

How to add your own pages

Adding yourself is simple. Use this form and enter your information. After some minutes, this list will automatically display your entry. Be fair and not only add yourself but follow others as well. ;)

As noted on the form, the listing here will be at my discretion, anything looking suspicious or too spammy will be removed by me.

How to help others

Go take a look at the facebook fan pages listed at the bottom of this entry and choose the ones you find good and add yourself as a fan. Once the goal of 100 is reached, the owner should be able to claim the username and you can remove yourself again.

In search of enough fans …

• Global Business Women (34) from Nicole Simon
  Page for the Xing-Group Global Business Women which I co-moderate.
• European Podcast Award (44) from Nicole Simon
• Girl Geek Dinner Deutschland (71) from Nicole Simon
• Bordkarte-Online.de (62) from Christian Meyer
  Bordkarte-Online.de offers an Web-Check-In-Service for your flights. Save time and use Bordkarte-Online.de
• isango! Travel Experiences (3) from Daniele Beccari
  isango! is the leading site for travel experencies. Get more from your holidays by planning and booking activities, tours or experiential h
• Witchstore Practical Magic (33) from Nemain
  We are a small german shop situated in Hamburg for white witchcraft and magical supply as well as gifts and other nice things.
• RubyCom (1) from Katharina Scheid
  RubyCom helps companies and managers to build up reputation and correct image. Strategy and process consultants, business coaches, PR specia
• The ACE (4) from Katharina Scheid
  The Association of Communication Experts is an independent network of selected privately-owned public relations counselling firms that deliv
• Mara Conflict (38) from Josh Kieschnick
  Support Local Music! Become a fan of the band Mara Conflict on Facebook
• Bliquo, urban leisure (51) from David
  Bliquo is an iPhone application allowing to search for urban leisure activities (restaurant, bars, clubs, etc.).
• Festival of Trees -Sherwood Park/Strathcona County (21) from Susan Mihalievitch
  Festival of Trees for our town...proceeds go towards volunteerism
• Hearts and Hooves (28) from Susan Mihalievitch
  An organization rescues mini horses and takes them to care homes etc for visiting.
• Information and Volunteer Centre for Strathcona County (11) from Susan Mihalievitch
  a volunteer centre
• Hog Database (30) from Jacob
  Arkansas Razorback Football History
• DrinkNeuro (85) from Justin
  Functional Beverage fan page.
• YOUNECT (10) from Sebastian Thiele
  YOUNECT connects trainees and trainers
• Joe Dawson (49) from Joe Dawson
  I wanted to create a lifestream and feed all my blog posts through my fanpage for everyone to view
• meetMoi (13) from Cammy
  Just set up your phone and create your dating profile. As you move around, meetMoi updates your location in real-time. You decide who sees y
• Cubix Rube (37) from Jeremy Stone
  -
• TGrantPhoto (4) from Tom Grant
  TGrant Photo is a professional photo service located in Lodi, OH specializing in senior portraits, weddings, sports and stock photography.
• conceptbakery (17) from Klaus Holzapfel
  Non-traditional marketing that is meant to be fun and effective. Our fan page is not meant to be a loudspeaker but rather provides relevant
• conceptbakery (17) from Klaus Holzapfel
  Non-traditional marketing that is meant to be fun and effective. Our fan page is not meant to be a loudspeaker but rather provides relevant
• Business Connections (50) from Marie Coles
  Social media 121 specilaists in the UK

Postits, especially the coloured ones, are one of my favourite things to have in my bag – together with colorful pens and papers. So when I came across this video named "DEADLINE post-it stop motion" I knew I was in for a treat. And after watching this, there is more. ;)

Artist Bang-yao Liu writes about his effort:

This is my senior project at Savannah College of Art and Design. Where my idea comes from is that every time when I am busy, I feel that I am not fighting with my works, I am fighting with those post-it notes and deadline. I manipulating the post-it notes to do pixel-like stop motion and there are some interactions between real actor and post-its.

And if you can’t get enough, here is the making of :

"3 months planning, 4 days shooting, 6K+ postit notes"

(via @Gavin)