This week, Facebook announced the availability of usernames for Facebook user profiles and business pages beginning at 12:01 am EDT Saturday, June 13, 2009. This announcement means that you will be able to create a personalized URL for your Facebook page. This option is available for both personal profiles and business pages. These names will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis, as long as the names meet the Facebook requirements.

Create your Facebook username for both profiles and pages on Saturday June 13th, 2009.

The username you choose must have at least five characters and can only be made up of alpha-numeric characters (A-Z, 0-9), or a period("."). The Facebook username you choose cannot be changed in the future or even transferred to another account once it has been submitted for a certain account. Plan carefully when choosing your username.

Requirements for Creating Facebook Usernames for Business Pages
Facebook has established a set of criteria that Business Pages need to meet in order to claim their usernames. The Facebook business page has to have been online via Facebook since May 31, 2009. The business page also had to have had at least 1,000 fans as of May 31, 2009.

Requirements for Creating Facebook Usernames for Personal Profiles
To create a username for your Facebook profile on June 13th you must have joined Facebook prior to June 9th, 2009. If you were not a Facebook member before June 9th you will be able to choose your username beginning June 28th.

Preventing the Registration of a Trademark
Concerned about your trademark being used as a username? Facebook has a form that is already available to protect against this sort of thing. You must use the correct Trademarked name and have the Trademark registration number in order to complete this form.

Facebook Fan Base Too Small?
There has been a lot of talk and concern from small businesses about the 1,000 fan requirement on the Facebook business pages. Facebook claims they have instituted this requirement in order to protect companies, and guard against squatting, if you fall into the category of a business page without enough fans to claim a username yet, please be sure to protect your trademarked name through the form mentioned above, and stay tuned for further opportunities for smaller businesses to get access to the personalized URLs.

Additional Resources
Still have questions regarding the Facebook Username changes and how it may affect your Facebook experience? Follow these links from Facebook for more information...

• Facebook Blog post regarding profile usernames


• Form to Reserve trademarked names


• Frequently asked questions about Facebook Business Pages


• Frequently asked questions about the Facebook Usernames

E-Power Marketing will have posts relating to this topic in the near future. We'll soon have a post on how to make Facebook effective for your company, and another post discussing where the Social Web is headed in the future.

Labels: Social Marketing