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.

Tags: facebook, facebook fan pages