I don't think people will, but I think the public profiles of celebrities, companies, and non-profits will.
redsoxmaniac
· 7 months ago
Totally agree.
If they can get conglomerate partnerships ( vanities for corporations , big companies ), like lets say $40,000 a year with a little bit of ad inventory and marketing perks for 200 companies ( ABC/Disney, Comcast ) that alone would be worth $8 million a year.
I think the model is suited to smaller companies and people, with small yearly fees ( like $15 year ), and I do wonder how it would play out.
Jack
· 7 months ago
Yes, I would probably purchase that option for my business. Too many Facebook Pages are being created which fall more into a group category in Facebook. I've seen a page called "Summer"...with no content or anything else.
The Facebook Pages will become more legitimate for businesses with the vanity url.
jess
· 7 months ago
I wouldn't for my personal profile, but DEFINITELY would for the page I've set up formy newspaper. Searching for pages and groups isn't necessarily the most intuitive process the way it's done now. Would be so much easier to direct people to our page with a vanity URL. And yes, depending on the price, we'd pay for it.
brett
· 7 months ago
not a chance
Tony
· 7 months ago
No i would not pay for a vanity URL. Especially when Shoemoney just got one for free today. They should be free!
brett
· 7 months ago
not a chance
Phillip Gibb
· 7 months ago
personally - No maybe as a business entity
Facebook User
· 7 months ago
NO.
MJ
· 7 months ago
Pay ? not really, why would i pay for something they should do it anyway.
jams
· 7 months ago
Would I pay to get vanity url for my personal FB profile? No.
Would some of customers pay to get vanity urls for their Public Profiles? Maybe, but even then I think there should me more than vanity url to that price.
Chicago
· 7 months ago
Uh...NO.
facebook-1185740323
· 7 months ago
No.
apas
· 7 months ago
No I wouldn't, but it was fer free I would go asap to register mine as facebook.com/apas. I only could pay for Flickr and/or some other other services like Dropbox and Amazon online storage service (can't remember the name, heh).
Cheese
· 7 months ago
The problem with this is that there plenty of sites (eg Twitter) which offer customizable urls as default. This type of standard service denial will not make Facebook any friends. They need to look at a more intelligent service offering rather than just a denial of service type approach.
Matt Hardwick
· 7 months ago
As a business, I would like my product/fan page to have a nice URL - although they do already give these away to companies they like (/windows) for example. What I really want from them is a better photo package, to compete with Flickr.
Correspondence courses
· 7 months ago
I love this site why because I got a lot of information from this site
Joanne Lincoln Maly
· 7 months ago
Facebook apparently has a similar free application in place... albeit you wouldn't have the word "Facebook" in your URL... but you would have any name you have chosen. I have been considering this application but haven't added it yet. The URL would look something like http://profile.to/myname -- here is the link to that FB app. http://apps.facebook.com/webaddress/
@MartinWSI
· 7 months ago
I already have one! Why would I want to give them money for something I already have? http://profile.to/martinduncan Classic example of a company trying to make money and alienating their advocates in the process...
@stripedbass
· 7 months ago
I have a personal domain name with the meta refresh tags on the index pages for http://[myname].com/Facebook (and a version with facebook lower case) set to redirect to my FB profile. Same setup for LinkedIn and Twitter. Came up with this idea the moment I first saw someone post the profile.to thing.
So, no, not a chance. But the question isn't whether people like us (more engaged in this stuff, read Mashable etc) would pay for it but whether it would be a net moneymaker for FB. I'm guessing it would be.
TaiTran
· 7 months ago
Then somebody can easily register for www.facebook.com/stripedbass and start making advantage of your reputation. How can you prove to Facebook that that person is not you?
Ye Naing Soe
· 7 months ago
NO
saamimatloob
· 7 months ago
am in no way payin for it.. maybe ill switch to some other website
susan
· 7 months ago
Depends on how much it cost. I would pay $25 to own it for life; I wouldn't pay $100 per year to lease it.
Personally I wouldn't pay for a vanity URL on any service, no matter how well used it was. I can see this being a "fad" to gather coin from business who would benefit from interaction with social media, but other options available to them such as a redirect from www.example.com/facebook or facebook.example.com would be free for them to set up.
I would like to see a premium service that removed adverts and the need to constantly invite friends to use applications. Those "skip" buttons are getting smaller and harder to find!
It's not only about creating a memorable URL but also about protecting your online identity.
Lee Provoost
· 7 months ago
yes i would pay for it but only if it comes in a facebook premium account version. meaning: no adds, vanity url, early access to new features, and some other goodies...
but only for the url? no
Leonid S. Knyshov
· 7 months ago
Potentially.
My business could benefit from Facebook exposure.
facebook-538621220
· 7 months ago
No
Chris Clayton
· 7 months ago
i would pay for it, but then again - i would find it insulting that they give it to some peaple (techcrunch, mashable, shoemoney, allfacebook) for free and charge others?
To me, thats discrimination... Since i dont own a social media/tech website, or im not a major corporation i have to pay?
Ian P. Hines
· 7 months ago
True enough. Let them finish the year, and then charge them to renew it.
Kim McGowan
· 7 months ago
I think it would be a more useful, and lucrative, for FB to offer this to businesses using their pages feature. Depending on the price, it would be an easy sell for me given the possible SEO return.
barefootmeg
· 7 months ago
do people still use facebook? since using nambu for twitter, i've kinda forgotten about FB. twitter is essentially the best part of FB without all the side crap (like what one of my friends scored on some quiz that i really could care less about). and nambu makes twittering a breeze. it far and away outdoes tweetdeck.
so, to answer the question, nope. wouldn't pay diddly to FB for anything.
Stefano Maggi
· 7 months ago
In fact, vanity URL will be important (if not crucial) for brands. Also in terms of Search Engine Optimization, it will be very good to have a search engine friendly URL. This could be enough for brands (but also for individuals) to pay for the service.
Ian P. Hines
· 7 months ago
I'd pay for premium features, contingent upon what they are. Maybe $10/year or $2/month, i.e. Flickr.
issa
· 7 months ago
dmgfokjbp][ytnie]yniw],y5-nw,-
Manu Perez
· 7 months ago
noway
JimD
· 7 months ago
LOL! That's just too funny. Sure, I'll pay for facebook.com/bornsucker instead of facebook.com/people/bornsucker/1234567890.
Honest to God, people willing to spend money on that need to seriously consider just getting their own site.
Craig (lapp)
· 7 months ago
Even if I wanted to pay, there is no way I could ever compete with the amount the big companies could offer. For example, let's say I want to get the name pizza, for www.worstpizza.com, there is no way I could afford to bid against pizza hut and the likes. So I am going to have to say no.....I would not pay for a vanity url
WayneShort
· 7 months ago
Not for a personal account, but yes for a FB page.
i agree, why pay if myspace gives it to you for free already.
although, i might pay if i can direct my own domain name to my facebook page, now that'll be better no?
Stanley Tang
· 7 months ago
Hell yeah!
@JoeHobot
· 7 months ago
If I would pay I would pay for 2 letter vanity url :) facebook.com/fu :) or something like that
franceinshirts
· 7 months ago
Yes that is clear - this would ease the facebook connexion exactly as myspace !
Good idea but careful on what you put in your profile...this can be now crawled by google
Alexandra Jau
· 7 months ago
Pay for vanity url? So let's see...first i give away all the rights to anything I upload/write on FB when becoming a member. Then I'm asked to pay for shorter url. Question: Does I own the shorter url or does FB? No way, I would pay.
Bryan
· 7 months ago
Not a chance.
Matt Schwartz
· 7 months ago
Not for a personal profile, but definitely for business-related public pages.
Brad
· 7 months ago
It seems Steve Nash would...
Facebook.com/stevenash
Exodus314.net
· 7 months ago
Not a chance in the world. By the time you pay for the vanity URL you might as well just register a domain name and pay a cheap yearly fee and then just redirect it to your profile page. It would probably be cheaper and you could have it be whatever you wanted.
Adam
· 7 months ago
It only makes sense for businesses or public figures, not normal individuals. Because you don't tell someone to go to your page... the profile doesn't even matter anymore, it's all about the newsfeed.
I would pay a one time fee of $50. I am upset that some big companies are getting them and the average person can not. We should have at least the option.
Adam Teece
· 7 months ago
As long as it is cheap and they offer more for a premium service than just a vanity URL, I don't mind paying a little. It better be more than worth it though.
rscott
· 7 months ago
I can't really think of anything Facebook could provide me that I'd care to pay for. Paying for Flickr provides some clear utility; I'm not so sure what FB could ever provide me.
It's all my content not theirs! Shouldn't they be paying me? - More fumbling in the darkness I suspect?
ballistik696
· 7 months ago
It's about damn time... Hell yeah I'd pay, my name is the most important thing in the world to me.
Donna Maria @ Indie Business
· 7 months ago
As a business owner, this is a no brainer.
Facebook is the 10th largest site on the Internet with 57.35 million unique visitors as of February 2009, according to comScore.
If Facebook's payment options were fair to all businesses across the board, I would pay a fair price for the benefit of having access to millions of people at a time. By "fair," I mean that, if it's free for Shoemoney, it should be free for me too.
The Internet is generally free. But the services business owners have access to via the Internet are sometimes free, sometimes not. If a service is helping you make money and proliferate your brand, you should not be insulted if you are asked to pay a reasonable and fair price for the service. That's how business works.
When you have a business, why wouldn't you jump at the chance to easily and conveniently promote your brand on Facebook?
My business is worth it. And so are my customers.
vojtech
· 7 months ago
I would pay for it if it is a one-time and small enough fee. I do use Facebook every day and wouldn't mind giving something back for all their hard work. It will be interesting to see what other premium features will be included.
Your Name*
· 7 months ago
I love the ambitious act but my answer is no given i can set my current personal domain to point to facebook if needed. Sorry FB. Keep trying, you're getting closer.
Ardi
· 7 months ago
Damn!!! they sure have a good marketing strategies in order to get a lot of benefits.
Leslie Hayman
· 7 months ago
Are supposed "vanity" URLs not the key to a plain language and, therefore, more easily searchable web? Would my name on facebook not be more easily discoverable using search algorythms than my content folloiwng some hodge-podge of numbers that fails to identify or characterize my content domain? If the answer is "yes", then it would be worth paying for a real identity to anyone who wants a real identity, like a brand marketer or someone with any business on the web.
Personally I Wouldn't Pay For One... And I really don't think that this will happen... But I am curious to know that when facebook do open the flood gates to make your own Vanity URL, how will a company like ours, Myxer.com, be sure that no one will take ours... It's a tricky situation, curious to see how it all plays out...
JayhawkLee
· 7 months ago
Yes I would pay for one!
Rodrigo Pontremoli
· 7 months ago
Not really. And less, considering that http://profile.to has been working for months now and it's good enough and free to link to your facebook page.
krishnamoorthy
· 7 months ago
No way.
I guess that would be flop business model.
ManagePROnline
· 7 months ago
Well It does make sense to charge for vanity URL especially if your website is one of the busiest site in the world.
Why don't you pay for facebook vanity URL when you are ready to pay for domain registration?
Moreover IMO in near future your online brand identity is going to be as important as your reputation and I won't be surprised to see "identity theft" incidents happening with your vanity URLs.
You have to secure your vanity URL on top 25 public websites to make sure somebody is not using it for some other purpose.
Yes, I would pay for a vanity URL...a small one time fee wouldn't be too bad.
If this is going to apply to facebook pages (i.e. facebook business pages) then it could be a great SEO opportunity. I haven't looked into how respected the facebook.com domain name is by google, ,but I'm sure it's pretty high.
I'd be willing to bet that having Facebook.com/san-diego-internet-marketing would be a pretty valuable asset for my consulting gig.
Good article. I'm curious on the price...
Hugh Briss
· 7 months ago
Makes a lot more sense to use the Wordpress plugin to create a handle using your own domain like Mashable.com/facebook. Better for branding. I can't imagine anyone paying for a vanity Facebook url.
Mark
· 7 months ago
They should be free like every other social networking site. However, everything is about money, so if you can't beat em, join em. I'd pay for vanity URLs for Facebook pages, but not for a profile.
shiva
· 7 months ago
It just feels so unfair that facebook would try to monetize a bug. Ofcourse, if it were part of a larger feature set, maybe ... but then again, that is just what all the other socNets are waiting for. The minute it goes premium they will lose market share. Unlike say flickr or gmail, the utility of facebook seems a little circumspect.
Todd Holmes
· 7 months ago
Nice of Facebook to continue giving me things to add to my "Why I hate Facebook" list.
Us0r
· 7 months ago
Unfortunately many of us will have to in order to protect our brands - companies, products, bands, actors, etc. will be subject to cybersquatting, it's bad enough already on the free sites.
Amber
· 7 months ago
For a Facebook page or group, definitely. For a personal profile, no.
Matt Hankerson
· 7 months ago
I think the question should not be "would you pay", but "how much would you pay". I think FB vanity URL's are going to be in more demand with their Twitterized feeds. So, they have some value. If it was $5 lifetime, then sure. And they would make a lot of money doing that in volume. But if it was more, I'd have to think about it.
Amber
· 7 months ago
For a Facebook page or group, definitely. For a personal profile, no.
Michael
· 7 months ago
Hell no! They should pay me for that!
Ralph
· 7 months ago
No. Redirecting a subdomain from my domain is free and more flexible.
redsoxmaniac
· 7 months ago
You will then have to put in the SEO work to get anyone to notice you. At least you will have some clout on Facebook's network.
Redirecting means nothing if no one sees your site on Google. And if they do see your site on Google, then you probably have no need for added marketing campaigns. But other people do.
John Boyle
· 7 months ago
I might for my sketch comedy group. The Facebook URLs are useless for marketing purposes.
Ana Lucia Novak
· 7 months ago
In regards to paying for a Facebook Vanity URL, the answer is Yes!
Zaq W
· 7 months ago
It's nice to see the FB is looking at ways to generate revenue... and with such a solid and necessary tool. ;)
John Boyle
· 7 months ago
Posted about a little trick I use to get around Facebook's lack of vanity URLs on my blog if you're interested!
Darren
· 7 months ago
Why would I do that?
Chris Dessi
· 7 months ago
I don't think I'd pay for one because it's obvious that they'll conform and offer vanity URL's to their user base. The most fascinating part of this discussion isn't if we (the masses) would pay or not, rather who already has a vanity URL and didn't have to cough up a dime? The vanity URL is a "who's who" guide to the Social Media world. Gary Vaynerchuk and most recently Shoemoney (Jeremy Shoemaker)
aanwar
· 7 months ago
Certainly would not pay for it. It seems its sort of like a "standard" to have a vanity url when you join sites.
Ryan Morrison
· 7 months ago
I'm not a big fan of facebook, I've got a profile and have to use it as people seem to insist on getting in touch with me through it - but I personally wouldn't pay for a vanity URL as I DON'T WANT people to find me on there - like I do on Twitter, Flickr, MySpace et al.
But, I do present a new music show for the BBC and after playing a track I give the bands myspace address.
However an increasing number of bands are turning to facebook as their platform of choice which means to promote the bands home online I have to say something along the lines of 'to find out more or hear other tracks from 'insert band name' go to Facebook and do a search for 'band name' and it is probably the fourth one down
Instead of the much friendlier - go to myspace.com/bandname.
So from that point of view only - I'd say it would be in the interest of a band, comedian etc to pay for a premium URL - just to make marketing easier.
Although I have started setting up tiny URLs for the bands that only use Facebook and giving that out on air instead.
Tarla
· 7 months ago
Does a vanity URL effect search engine ranking in anyway? If it did, I'm sure companies would pay money for it. As a user however, no, I would not pay for it. Wrapped in a package with other hugely desirable features, possibly, but they would have to be some truly amazing features.
killab
· 7 months ago
I think the vanity URL is for the actual domain and not the sub. For example - myfacebookpage.com, brandonsfacebook.org, mybook.me...etc. not facebook.com/mypsage.
The cost would be for the domain registration but there should be some added software functionality as well
killab
· 7 months ago
i've notice facebook already seo's pretty nicely but an actual domain would show up first over a subdomain. what naomi has is what they would want to offer, i believe.
TwitrFic
· 7 months ago
who would pay for facebook? thats a joke. poke me cuz i'm dreaming
homepage
· 7 months ago
I wouldn't pay for it, but people pay for vanity license plates so why not try and capture some disposable income, what's left of it anyways. Try the best homepage
I'll pay if they remove some of their advertising.
Brian Beehler
· 7 months ago
My feeling is that many other site allow for a vanity URL for FREE and Facebook is no position to start charging end user fees. Facebook must stay true its origins and stay FREE to continue its dominent growth rate over any website .
I do see a value of having the vanity URL and gladly welcome the ability for me to have my own.
when you really get down to the main issue, anyone using the internet is already paying through their internet provider. This world is alreay a user pays in the end. Facebook is going to go broke if we all stick together and say "NO NO we will not Pay. We pay enough for other user fees everywhere else. Me I have decided not to use Faceboook again.
Caleb Hays
· 7 months ago
I would definitely NOT pay for a vanity URL on facebook.
Noreen
· 7 months ago
I don't think you have to pay to have a somewhat, sorta', kinda' "custom" url - in FB search>type memorable and apps come up>pick first one with green and a white arrow in it and voila, nothing fancy but a "custom" url!
you are asking whether i would pay for something or not ?
er - I guess not - but that goes for anything - right ?
maybe the question is then - why NOT if ?
ace
· 7 months ago
Why pay for a vanity url? I wouldn't.
Anxuna
· 7 months ago
No no
Anxuna
· 7 months ago
not a chance
wizzardsblog
· 7 months ago
I wouldn't pay for the privilege.
Xander
· 7 months ago
Maybe, if it was only a few dollars or something. Any more than that and it's not worth it.
Nathan
· 7 months ago
No, I would not pay for a vanity URL on Facebook. I'm not even sure I'd want one for free. I'd be okay for having a Vanity URL for a group page or a fan page, but I'm happy with my personal page being private.
Angel
· 7 months ago
I would concur with a lot of the people commenting here. Why would I pay for something that every other social site already gives you for free? I liked the idea suggested earlier about using another site you may have and redirecting to your FB with a custom url. Anyhow, for cripes sake, MySpace let's you do it for free, and if they do it (crappy as they are), why would FB want to charge and alienate a few people? Oh well, I understand they want to make money every way they can, but this is not one of the better ideas.
redsoxmaniac
· 7 months ago
Its called value. Think of it as a party at college. There are parties that have free beer, and there are parties that you have to pay.
But the paid parties are closer, and have way cooler people, the other parties, not so much. So yes, some people ( not all ) would be willing to pay. How much? We'll see.
scotepi
· 7 months ago
I own and run http://tinyfb.com a facebook link shorting site. Right now it works on profiles, but in the next few weeks i'm going to expand it into accepting groups and pages
Anna
· 7 months ago
I think that I would pay (a small fee), simply because it's a lot more convenient and easier for ppl to find you on FB, especially if you're a business.
kombizz
· 7 months ago
No
Nic
· 7 months ago
NO!
It's not that important, and if they start separating features and creating a "premium service" that means I get to use it in less ways that I am now, I would just delete the account. I have both facebook and myspace. I will not pay for social networking, especially when myspace isn't charging for anything for any of its features, and in fact provides some features for free that apparently facebook is considering charging for. This is not a good idea for facebook. The moment they mention "charge" to anyone, people are going to turn and run - Rightfully so.
scottmunc
· 7 months ago
I don't see the point when there are other options. You can purchase your own domain name and forward it to your facebook account URL and domain mask it. Or use the application that gives you http://profile.to/yourname.
@scottmunc
redsoxmaniac
· 7 months ago
But you are attached to a social system, which is also a passive form of expanding a name. I have my own named website, but 100X more people go to my wordpress.com site. The domain purchasing is good, but Facebook isn't competing in this market.
The vanity market is essentially an extra advertising/marketing/exposure function of Facebook. I don't think it would reach a huge point ( unless the vanity became something that was hard to get ) of success, but I do see the viability.
There are other options, and Facebook is making a run at adding another for web users. Plus, most of their users don't even know how to sign up for a domain name, let alone create their own website, network, work on SEO, or domain forwarding.
tom martin
· 7 months ago
Agree. If I want a Vanity URL for Facebook, I just create a BudURL like this one: www.budurl.com/TomMartin and the bonus plan... I get tracking data. Facebook missed this boat... but that said, I'm sure lots of folks will rush to get theirs.
redsoxmaniac
· 7 months ago
They ddin't miss any boat; 99.9999999999% of their users don't know what BudUrl is. They just have to market vanity names attached to the facebook brand. They probably could get nice corporate money for this.
If you were ESPN.com and needed to network to many users, are you going to show a commercial with Budurl.com/espn or Facebook.com/espn.
Understand the market viability.
Djtwin
· 7 months ago
I have my own version called a subdomain. :P I wouldnt pay for it
Jonny "the Heartbreaker"
· 7 months ago
yeah, for sho' that sounds awsome
Antonio Castro
· 7 months ago
Well, really .... Pay for something that i consider to be such a defective ( intended or not ) issue? No way Jose ...
Whitney Pannell
· 7 months ago
My guess is large companies will pay.
Erwin1974
· 7 months ago
I think this is a stupid idea. Every social site on the planet offers you a vanity URL for free (if they have that option at all) Why should Facebook be different? What do they offer extra? I can understand a paid plus account, but the benefits should be like statistics, detailed info on who visited your profile and other innovative functions. Vanity URL's should NOT be a part of any such package.
Hanna
· 6 months ago
No way in hell I'd pay for a vanity URL. I switched to Myspace because it wasn't about all that stupid change your background, font, colors etc. crap. I wanted to be apart of something a little more mature and for my age group. At the time it was for College students only. Which was great! Then they insulted us by adding those stupid HS kids into the mix and Facebook became a little too much like Myspace. Honestly, after that I stopped using it as much. It's supposed to be social networking.... not who has the coolest URL.
Dr Radcliffe
· 6 months ago
Yes I would pay for a Facebook Vanity URL .It makes sense and Facebook usernames will be a big player in google search rankings since Google wave is set to come out and Facebook wants to probably go for more of a real time technology like that of twitter. http://hubpages.com/hub/Facebook-Username-Vanit...
matt d. smith
· 6 months ago
can't get the facebook vanity url you want or don't have 1,000 fans on your page? here's an alternative way to get what you want. http://blog.studiomds.com/
Paracademia
· 5 months ago
Absolutely not. But then, I don't really care about vanity URLs; in many ways, I prefer not to have one as it makes me less 'guessable'.
CarlosX360
· 5 months ago
Not a chance. Sorry, facebook. You're not getting my cash just for url's
Anthony Proulx
· 5 months ago
Nah, I wouldn't pay for my personal one, it already shows up easy enough in searches, but for my business http://insphyreperformance.com I maybe would of paid for facebook.com/insphyre but I already got it so I wouldn't obviously pay at this point.
Anthony Proulx
· 5 months ago
Nah, I wouldn't pay for my personal one, it already shows up easy enough in searches, but for my business http://insphyreperformance.com I maybe would of paid for facebook.com/insphyre but I already got it so I wouldn't obviously pay at this point.
Anthony Proulx
· 5 months ago
Nah, I wouldn't pay for my personal one, it already shows up easy enough in searches, but for my business http://insphyreperformance.com I maybe would of paid for facebook.com/insphyre but I already got it so I wouldn't obviously pay at this point.
Lydia Eventa
· 3 months ago
Not for my personal account, but I would certainly consider buying a memorable one for some of my businesses.
All Comments
If they can get conglomerate partnerships ( vanities for corporations , big companies ), like lets say $40,000 a year with a little bit of ad inventory and marketing perks for 200 companies ( ABC/Disney, Comcast ) that alone would be worth $8 million a year.
I think the model is suited to smaller companies and people, with small yearly fees ( like $15 year ), and I do wonder how it would play out.
The Facebook Pages will become more legitimate for businesses with the vanity url.
maybe as a business entity
Would some of customers pay to get vanity urls for their Public Profiles? Maybe, but even then I think there should me more than vanity url to that price.
http://apps.facebook.com/webaddress/
http://profile.to/martinduncan
Classic example of a company trying to make money and alienating their advocates in the process...
So, no, not a chance. But the question isn't whether people like us (more engaged in this stuff, read Mashable etc) would pay for it but whether it would be a net moneymaker for FB. I'm guessing it would be.
maybe ill switch to some other website
I would like to see a premium service that removed adverts and the need to constantly invite friends to use applications. Those "skip" buttons are getting smaller and harder to find!
http://apps.facebook.com/webaddress
Here is mine http://profile.to/ramartijr
but only for the url? no
My business could benefit from Facebook exposure.
To me, thats discrimination... Since i dont own a social media/tech website, or im not a major corporation i have to pay?
so, to answer the question, nope. wouldn't pay diddly to FB for anything.
Also in terms of Search Engine Optimization, it will be very good to have a search engine friendly URL.
This could be enough for brands (but also for individuals) to pay for the service.
Honest to God, people willing to spend money on that need to seriously consider just getting their own site.
although, i might pay if i can direct my own domain name to my facebook page, now that'll be better no?
Good idea but careful on what you put in your profile...this can be now crawled by google
Facebook.com/stevenash
RT
www.anonymity.es.tc
Facebook is the 10th largest site on the Internet with 57.35 million unique visitors as of February 2009, according to comScore.
If Facebook's payment options were fair to all businesses across the board, I would pay a fair price for the benefit of having access to millions of people at a time. By "fair," I mean that, if it's free for Shoemoney, it should be free for me too.
The Internet is generally free. But the services business owners have access to via the Internet are sometimes free, sometimes not. If a service is helping you make money and proliferate your brand, you should not be insulted if you are asked to pay a reasonable and fair price for the service. That's how business works.
When you have a business, why wouldn't you jump at the chance to easily and conveniently promote your brand on Facebook?
My business is worth it. And so are my customers.
And I really don't think that this will happen...
But I am curious to know that when facebook do open the flood gates to make your own Vanity URL, how will a company like ours, Myxer.com, be sure that no one will take ours...
It's a tricky situation, curious to see how it all plays out...
I guess that would be flop business model.
Why don't you pay for facebook vanity URL when you are ready to pay for domain registration?
Moreover IMO in near future your online brand identity is going to be as important as your reputation and I won't be surprised to see "identity theft" incidents happening with your vanity URLs.
You have to secure your vanity URL on top 25 public websites to make sure somebody is not using it for some other purpose.
Thanks
www.managepronline.com
If this is going to apply to facebook pages (i.e. facebook business pages) then it could be a great SEO opportunity. I haven't looked into how respected the facebook.com domain name is by google, ,but I'm sure it's pretty high.
I'd be willing to bet that having Facebook.com/san-diego-internet-marketing would be a pretty valuable asset for my consulting gig.
Good article. I'm curious on the price...
Redirecting means nothing if no one sees your site on Google. And if they do see your site on Google, then you probably have no need for added marketing campaigns. But other people do.
But, I do present a new music show for the BBC and after playing a track I give the bands myspace address.
However an increasing number of bands are turning to facebook as their platform of choice which means to promote the bands home online I have to say something along the lines of 'to find out more or hear other tracks from 'insert band name' go to Facebook and do a search for 'band name' and it is probably the fourth one down
Instead of the much friendlier - go to myspace.com/bandname.
So from that point of view only - I'd say it would be in the interest of a band, comedian etc to pay for a premium URL - just to make marketing easier.
Although I have started setting up tiny URLs for the bands that only use Facebook and giving that out on air instead.
The cost would be for the domain registration but there should be some added software functionality as well
http://apps.facebook.com/userpage
I do see a value of having the vanity URL and gladly welcome the ability for me to have my own.
http://brianbeehler.com
http://www.tinyurl.com/maybenautsfacebook
er - I guess not - but that goes for anything - right ?
maybe the question is then - why NOT if ?
But the paid parties are closer, and have way cooler people, the other parties, not so much. So yes, some people ( not all ) would be willing to pay. How much? We'll see.
It's not that important, and if they start separating features and creating a "premium service" that means I get to use it in less ways that I am now, I would just delete the account. I have both facebook and myspace. I will not pay for social networking, especially when myspace isn't charging for anything for any of its features, and in fact provides some features for free that apparently facebook is considering charging for. This is not a good idea for facebook. The moment they mention "charge" to anyone, people are going to turn and run - Rightfully so.
@scottmunc
The vanity market is essentially an extra advertising/marketing/exposure function of Facebook. I don't think it would reach a huge point ( unless the vanity became something that was hard to get ) of success, but I do see the viability.
There are other options, and Facebook is making a run at adding another for web users. Plus, most of their users don't even know how to sign up for a domain name, let alone create their own website, network, work on SEO, or domain forwarding.
If you were ESPN.com and needed to network to many users, are you going to show a commercial with Budurl.com/espn or Facebook.com/espn.
Understand the market viability.
http://hubpages.com/hub/Facebook-Username-Vanit...