Starting from Saturday 13 June, Facebook users will be able to personalise their homepage by adding a custom username to the main Facebook URL for easier visibility on the social-networking site.
Not so much a big deal, but rather a small change that goes a way towards making it easier to swap your Facebook details with contacts. Instead of having them search for you, now you can avoid having a string of ID numbers and just be Facebook.com/joebloggs.
Facebook says this will make your username searchable within Facebook, but also give you more Google juice as your username will pop up in search results: “People can enter a Facebook username as a search term on Facebook or a popular search engine such as Google, for example, which will make it much easier for people to find friends with common names,” the company said.
An excuse for Facebook users to scramble for silly usernames like ‘irock.usuck’ or snap up ‘stevejobs’ and ‘tomcruise’? Maybe, but be warned, whatever username you choose for your Facebook profile is the one you will be stuck with; it cannot be changed once chosen.
By Marie Boran
