Facebook Gets Personal With URL Changes

Yesterday the popular social network used the Facebook blog to inform users that personalized URLs would soon be available. Blaise DiPersia, a designer at Facebook, did the honors, writing to inform the community that starting at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, June 13, users will be able to personalize their Web address.

Currently, Facebook URLs are a jumble of numbers and letters and tend to look something like this: facebook.com/profile.php/id=123456789. On Saturday morning, users will be able to customize that somewhat unsightly looking URL to something like: www.facebook.com/channelweb.

It's a good thing Facebook exists in a virtual world, otherwise users would already be lining up in front of the social network's offices to register domain names such as Mr. Black, mark.zuckerberg and a host of others.

According to DiPersia and Facebook, the move is designed to make it easier to find and connect with friends. "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," wrote DiPersia on the Facebook blog.

It's likely that the majority of Facebook users will accept this small change to the service, even though the social network has had trouble changing features in the past.

In February Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, announced changes to the social network's Terms of Service. That created an uproar that eventually led to Facebook creating a bill of rights and allowing users to vote on it.

In March, Facebook went through a redesign, aimed at emulating the look and feel of Twitter. Again, this sparked outrage in the community. Eventually, Facebook caved and tweaked the redesign.

It's been a rough couple of months for Facebook, but this change will likely squeak through without much of a problem.