Facebook to switch to Usernames

[300lb. Samoan]

[HEADING=2]Facebook to Switch to Usernames[/HEADING]

Ever wish you could go straight to a user's page on Facebook without having to dig through friend lists and search features? Facebook is finally taking a cue from MySpace and letting users set a 'Vanity URL', starting this Saturday, June 13th at 12:01am (Eastern Daylight Time, 5:01am London time).

According to the website's press page...

We're planning to offer Facebook usernames to make it easier for people to find and connect with you. When your friends, family members or co-workers visit your profile or Pages on Facebook, they will be able to enter your username as part of the URL in their browser. This way people will have an easy-to-remember way to find you. We expect to offer even more ways to use your Facebook username in the future.

The news broke Teusday at 3:11pm on Facebook's press page. Avid users are already anticipating a landrush to reserve their favorite moniker. Some will use their gamertags, others funny memes, while some people will struggle just to use their true legal name. You can count on the most common names, such as John Smith, or celebrity and character names like Olivia Munn and Gordan Freeman getting snatched up very quickly.

Spoiler: What I think...

I hate using Facebook. Always have. But, I'm coming to the realization that Facebook is replacing MySpace, which a short while ago replaced e-mail. I hated MySpace, too, but not as much as Facebook. In any case, I want to make sure I don't get stuck with anything crappy, I have always been proud of the fact that I still had a zero-hour nickname (from before they mandated using a legal name for your profile - they can't force me to change it from Big Nick!) So soon my page will be located at facebook.com/BigNick, or maybe facebook.com/300lbSamoan, much better than facebook.com/00138125764296 or whatever. That's probably my steam ID, who knows...