Facebook vanity URLs may not be here just yet, but that isn’t preventing startups from readying offerings that aim to complement them (or you could say piggy-back on them).
Assetize, for one, is readying its account username marketplace for the highly-anticipated-in-some-circles unique addresses. Coinciding with the impending introduction of unique Facebook URLs for the masses (at 12:01 AM Eastern Time tonight), Assetize will enable users to buy and sell them much like you can with regular website addresses on so-called domain name after-markets. The startup already provides the same service for a variety of other accounts, such as Twitter, Gmail and Ning, and will now be adding Facebook to its roster.
As Facebook noted in its blog post announcing the upcoming availability of the unique addresses, it’s not possible to change or transfer vanity URLs. This doesn’t pose a problem, says Assetize, because you’re still able to buy and sell ‘access’ to the account, i.e. your login credentials.
In related news, SocialToo is jumping on the Facebook vanity URL bandwagon too, by offering its users a way to get a bunch of analytics on their Facebook profiles, like which browsers visitors to the account are using, where they’re located, and where they’re clicking from (if available). All a user would need to do is register for the service, click on the link to get a special code from Facebook, provide the code along with a SocialToo username and password (the username will be what their vanity URLs will be based on), and click submit. Next time they log in, they’ll see a new “SocialStats” tab with statistics for their URL.
Assetize? Let’s put the emphasis on the first syllable. Sometimes, I just hate the Internet.
Amen!
Agreed!!!
saw this one coming…grab those generics!
Exactly. Hey, if some people are able to cash in on these cyber assets, more power to ‘em.
I want Pizza, or Beer as my URL
Cybersquatting invading social networks.. that’s what this article should be titled.
I might one of the few that does not care if I have a http://facebook.com/davemora
I am not sure who stated this but “Facebook” is not my brand.
If I really cared about facebook I would do something like http://davemora.com/facebook
I wonder how many other people feel the same way?
I suspect only the “online marketers”. Not the ones that actually bring value but the “online marketers” that are spaming twitter may be the onlyones that care about the facebook vanity URLS.
#my2cents
Just a remark : you use http://twitter.com/DaveMora and not http://davemora.../twitter…
This was predictable.
What about Twitter and Facebook nailing down IDs with credit cards / drivers license / social security number, etc? This would also help eliminate the posers on Twitter and might improve behavior if people know their actions can be tagged to a real person.
Really, with social security numbers? The world is bigger than the United States. And besides, who in their right mind would want to enter official government identification information into digital social networks?
I agree official govt. ID is extreme, but don’t you agree some social networks would be better off with a provable identity model?
Identity on the internet has been a persistent problem, and won’t be going away anytime soon.
And why FB didn’t do this them selves? Those URLs should be auctioned.
FB just missed some bucks.
I heard somebody say – Internet is going to be a “Paid System” within five years
I think it was an article on infowars
Vanity domain extensions can be very powerful when properly executed. i think in 5 years everything will be free and the most valuable substance is those darn domain names to which users will be charged a nominal fee. location is everything on earth as it is in cyberspace.
And your portfolio of URLs is proof that you don’t know what you are talking about as it relates to this topic.
wow, great idea. maybe i can finally buy a proper name instead of appending numeric values to already taken accounts.
I’m still holding on to the property I bought on the moon a few years back. R’member that?
Isn’t SocialToo violating the FB deveoper policies with this service?
E
I believe SocialToo is doing what url shortener bit.ly is doing which is redirecting the url, bit.ly also has this analytics feature but with socialtoo you get a username.socialtoo.com url.
Eric, I don’t think so, but I’d love to know if we are.
If digital “real estate value” is any indication of the “land” it is built on, here are some hot lots in the Republic of Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/love
http://www.mysp....com/techcrunch
http://www.myspace.com/google
lol this is funny…
Hey, if Assetize proves to be a valuable service, kudos to them.
It amazes me that people just don’t learn from their mistakes. The same thing that happened to domain names will have to facebook vanity names. If you are not quick enough to get your brand’s name, you’ll pay for it.
Trademarking a name is specifically designed to thwart off this type of behavior in the physical world. At a certain point, companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks, will have to start verifying accounts (twitter is supposed to start doing it) to make sure that the person who created the name really owns the trademark on it.
i ‘m pretty sure facebook will go after them.
They certainly can’t stop people from selling what they have. However, if people want to sell their facebook accounts, they’re going to most likely be selling an accountant that wasn’t intended to be sold. Facebook isn’t allowing people to create a new account and get a vanity URL for that yet. So, I wonder how this will work.
their TOS prohibits selling an account. those people who sell their urls will probably un-reserve them at a predetermined time so that the buyer can claim it immediately. however if facebook makes the url not-reclaimable for an amount of time after it gets released, it will make it a whole more difficult to do the exchange
Man, the picture you guys use for this article is SOOOO “THE FAIL”.
I feel like this (selling of usernames) is a violation of Facebook’s Terms of Service and general username guidelines.
What will people pay for next on the internet?
Isn’t captialism wonderful – we all want to be part of it, but then moan like kids when people make money!
Agreed , why Facebook is doing such a stunt.
It could have released the feature silently.
Somehow I am getting a feeling that ONLINE IDENTITY is taking a backseat
These lads are just trying to get to useful ideas for free..