Jun 14, 2009 10:32 pm US/Pacific
Millions Sign Up For Facebook Vanity Usernames
PALO ALTO (CBS 5 / KCBS / AP) ―
Facebook is further embracing the real name culture it touts as one of its founding principles—and catching up with rival MySpace in the process.
Over the weekend, the popular online hangout's millions of users began claiming a name to use as part of their profile page's Web address—as in http://facebook.com/janedoe-- at the rate of 550 people per second.
"In many ways it's really just truly a vanity issue in the sense that you want to have your own identity and your own line up top," said Ryan Calo, a resident at Stanford University's Center for Internet and Society.
Facebook currently assigns each profile a string of numerals over which users have no control. Calo said by allowing users to choose their own name, they will get their own "personalized account" which could offer more advantages.
"So if you're using Facebook for a professional reason, you might find it easier to direct people to your page," he explained.
To avoid "squatting" on popular names, the company allowed only users who had joined Facebook before 3 p.m. last Tuesday to sign up for usernames beginning on Saturday. Everyone else has to wait until June 28. Fan pages for businesses, brands and celebrities were able adopt such names, too, but they had to have been on the site by May 31, with at least 1,000 "fans" at that time.
In allowing such names, Facebook is playing catch-up with News Corp.-owned MySpace, which has let its users pick their own monikers since its 2004 launch. MySpace said about 90 percent of its active users have set up such "vanity URLs."
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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