Facebook URLs and Institutions

For those of you who have personal Facebook accounts or who help maintain institutional accounts you probably already are aware that the URL to your home page is usually something like facebook.com/profile.php?id=684175895.  Who remembers that long number?  I had to look mine up on Facebook to get it.  Having your own personal URL as your online identity seems to be the direction other social networking sites are going.  MySpace, Twitter, and Google all are using personal URLs instead of ID numbers or some other ID code.  Facebook has now decided to enter the game.

Why should this matter to libraries and institutions? If your library or institution does not have a page on Facebook, well it doesn’t matter too much.  But if your library has put a lot of time and effort into creating and maintaining a Facebook presence and it is that project is a success then you might want to pay attention.  Now is the time for your library or institution to register and get a URL with your library or institution’s name.  Friday 6/12 at 12:00 am EST, Facebook will allow people to choose their own URL instead of the ID number. 

It will be interesting to see how things work.  Those of you who have trademark or protected names can email Facebook here, to avoid any issues or problems.