How To Prepare For The Second Facebook Username Land Rush

Tonight Facebook will be opening up usernames to Facebook Pages that have between 100 and 1,000 fans. According to our page statistics tracker that accounts for over 429,000 pages or just over 30 percent of all Facebook Pages. This presents a huge opportunity for those businesses that don't currently have as large of a following. Page administrators will be able to claim their usernames after 11:59 PM EDT tonight. Facebook has been making adjustments on the limitation of the number of fans up until the last minute. As of yesterday, those pages with 25 or more fans could register but today Facebook increased that limit to 100 fans. This has removed over 401,000 Pages that were previously going to be eligible for receiving a username this evening. This restriction is understandable as Facebook wants to prevent any squatters from creating numerous pages and quickly inviting enough users that they can grab usernames. So what are the most important things that you need to know about this evening's username land grab? Facebook has provided the following information that you should keep in mind: Usernames will be available for all Pages that have "more than 100 fans" starting at 11:59 EDT this evening via http://www.facebook.com/username. The company has not clarified if it's Eastern Daylight Time although we assume that it is since that's when the last one took place. Usernames can only contain alphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9) or a period ("."). Generic names are not available. As Facebook writes via the "Username: Facebook Pages" help page, "At this time, generic words are not available as usernames. Facebook encourages all users and Page administrators to create a username that closely matches the true identity of their name or business." As usual, usernames will be non-transferrable. If you are looking to improve the SEO of your Facebook Page then this is a great addition. Also, selecting a username means that you will be able to have a mobile short code. This means you can tell people to text "fan [username]" to 32665 (FBOOK) from their mobile phones, and they will be added as fans instantly. If you are still confused about Facebook usernames, then head on over to the Facebook username help page.

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How To Prepare For The Second Facebook Username Land Rush

Nick O'Neill

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