Are Facebook Usernames a Step Toward @Addressable Identity?

June 9th, 2009

By Justin Smith

With the announcement of the upcoming launch of Facebook usernames today, Facebook is taking another step toward strengthening identity on the site through vanity URLs. Now, user profiles pages will sit at URLs like facebook.com/Jenny instead of facebook.com/profile.php?id=12345678, which are much easier to understand and remember (and, great for SEO).

But Facebook usernames will also make it possible for users to tag each other through the use of an identifier like Twitter’s “@justinsmith” for the first time. The inability to address other users in a succinct way has always been a major limitation of Facebook status updates to date.

Now, Facebook users could easily tag other users (and Pages) in-line, without needing to attach a link or manually tag. This kind of addressable identity is one of the major strengths of Twitter.

This could mean a variety of interesting things for the future of Facebook usernames. For many users, Facebook usernames could eventually replace other email accounts for a broader range of messaging use cases. Eventually, Facebook usernames could become increasingly used across the web as unique identifiers through Facebook Connect.

For now, Facebook usernames will mainly strengthen identity within the site through URLs (and at the same time boost Facebook’s SEO). However, I expect we’ll be seeing them much more in the future.

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9 Responses to “Are Facebook Usernames a Step Toward @Addressable Identity?”

Phil Ulrich Says:
June 9th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
lol you misspelled facebook in the last paragraph. sorry, im a grammar freak
Justin Smith Says:
June 9th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Thanks Phil, updated
Daniel Adams Says:
June 9th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
nice article

keep it up
sad news Says:
June 9th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
FB following failed twitter.
FacebookでUsernameが利用可能に - Facebook Facial Operations Says:
June 10th, 2009 at 5:47 am
[...] Facebook Usernames Coming Soon for Pages ネタ元: Are Facebook Usernames a Step Toward @Addressable Identity? Share this on FacebookShare this on del.icio.usDigg this!Buzz up!Share this on TechnoratiPost this [...]
Jamie Ellis Says:
June 10th, 2009 at 9:43 am
nice article. gives a prospective of how it MAY evolve
Sky McElroy Says:
June 10th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Nice pointing out the potential. The idea of an easy @id type of system increases Facebook’s potential. And through integration of it, it can start to do the sort of things Twitter excels at.

With Facebook Connect, an @address can become a multiplatform, integrated approach to communication and identity, especially given the information present on Facebook. Facebook would be serving as a central repository for information–both actively and serving data. The possibilities that brings, if properly put within the API’s framework, are enticing.
John Erik Metcalf Says:
June 10th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
get excited.
Facebook About to Roll Out New Inbox Filters to Decrease Clutter Says:
June 18th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
[...] hasn’t announced whether or not users will be able to send messages to each other using their Facebook username. For now, Facebook will be using the same UI for choosing friends to send messages [...]