Pseudonymbook? Facebook Will Let You Use An Alias June 13
Facebook has prided itself on forcing users to stick hard and true to their real names, eliminating the zany, anonymous nonsense on other social networking sites. The real-name policy isn't changing, but Facebook is finally letting wacky nicknames into the mix, announcing that it will let you choose an alternate name for your profile page, letting friends who know you only as "Spanky" find you without having to recall your given moniker. The new name can also replace the nine-digit number assigned to you on your Facebook URL.
Unlike Secret Agent Man, Facebook's taking 'way your number and giving you a name.
EWeek has the skinny:
"When your friends, family members or co-workers visit your profile or Pages on Facebook, they will be able to enter your user name as part of the URL in their browser," [Facebook designer Blaise] DiPersia wrote. "This way people will have an easy-to-remember way to find you."
For the five years of its existence, Facebook's content management system has assigned random numbers to each person's profile page URL, such as "id=592952074." Starting June 13, if a user isn't already connected to a friend and isn't able to find his or her name through the site's search function, the user can simply replace the nine-digit number with the friend's user name.
The user name also can be used in the search function. The friend's site then is supposed to pop right up.
"From the beginning of Facebook, people have used their real names to share and connect with the people they know," DiPersia wrote. "This authenticity helps to create a trusted environment because you know the identity of the people and things on Facebook.
"The one place, though, where your identity wasn't reflected was in the Web address for your profile or the Facebook Pages you administer."
According to the story, user names must be at least five characters long and only use letters, numbers or periods. So you're apparently out of luck if you want to use a hyphen. It's a free service, and only users who were already registered before the announcement will be allowed to pick names come June 13th, to help prevent squatting. You also won't be able to change the name or give it over to someone else (also to prevent squatting), so choose with care. Here's more information at the Facebook blog.
In other news, MySpace still exists, loves you for who you are and wants you back so hard.
Facebook to Allow User Names Beginning June 13 [EWeek]
(Photo: !!!! scogle)
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Comments:
Sigh Facebook.
Scary stuffs. I so want to ask if I have a facebook... but I'm afraid of all the internet sleuths on here, lol.
Another in a series of changes that have rendered a once-useful tool worthless.
If this will also make it so that people can't search by my real name so easily, I am all for it since I don't care to know how many of my high school classmates are knocked up by now.
I take great care to ensure that my online alias is never associated with my real first name. And if anyone knows my name, they can look me up in the phone book. I'm the only one listed under my name!
So I'll think I'll pass, thank you very much.
Despite all their wacky changes, I still prefer it as a time-waster over MySpace - it's more aesthetically pleasing than the garish ads that are splayed all over every inch of MySpace.
It also rendered my year high school reunion obsolete, so kudos!
@theblackdog: Statistically, better than 30%? It could go as high as 70% by the time you're 40, but at least 30% will also be barren.
Unless you include "adoption" in your definition of "knocked up?"
Mark my words:
This will only end in tears.
Though I'm not sure if it will be of joy or actual sadness...
I fear this is another step towards being able to "pimp" your Facebook. Because who would want anyone to be able to read your profile?
I'm mixed. I like it because now I can finally put the name I'm known by out there. Since I went by my initials since middle school, no one knows my full name.
@theblackdog: What makes you think your classmates are any more eager to get in touch with you, Mr. Sunshine?
You might want to consider NOT using a username that you use elsewhere. The way I'm reading it, someone who searched for your username would see any information that they would see if they searched for your real name. So searching for your username would reveal your real name, your friends, and any other information that you have allowed to be visible to anyone.
i'm assuming none of my privacy protections would change though, right? So if you aren't in a college network, if you put in IC Weiner (not real username), you still wouldn't find me and if you are in a college network all you'd see is my name and networks. No picture or other info...
@Cant_stop_the_rock: My guess is that it starts Facebook down the slippery slope toward the emetic crap that makes MySpace a chore to read. As another commentor already noted, "pimping" your Facebook sounds like a hop away. As for past changes, do you remember when Facebook was only for students? When Facebook was opened to every meat-head in Christendom, there was a virtual riot. Private communities frequently turn xenophobic, especially when the forum begins to look like a cesspool.
@sponica: You may want to check your privacy settings after they make the switch just to make sure nothing has been changed. After one of the recent re-designs of Facebook, myself and many other members found our profiles were a lot less private than we had set them up to be.
Great. But my friends don't know me as Mac28347.
@Unsolicited Advice: I am wondering how FaceBook is useful? I cannot find a decent purpose for it beside getting your information.
@takes_so_little: I think that is why he likes the alias, so they cannot get in touch with him. Make sense?
@LegoMan322: Um, oh, I don't know, how about connecting with friends, old and new? How about the fact that I found several old friends from elementary and high school that I'm very glad I was able to connect with again? How about the photobook? How about keeping in touch with family and friends all over the world? How about sharing information?
"beside[sic] getting your information."
get off my lawwwwn!
I'm pretty confused over why people are upset about this. Your Profile will still list you as Firstname Lastname. Updates will still say 'FirstName Lastname is bored' and when your long lost best friend from preschool searches for Firstname Lastname, you will still pop up. If I don't want 'calquist' associated with my facebook profile, *gasp* I won't pick 'calquist' as my facebook alias. This isn't changing facebook at all except for the link at the top of the page... it will make life easier for people like John Smith so when John says "Hey, add me on facebook" you do not have to sort through 500000 names. He can say "Hey check me out on facebook, I'm johnsmith23"
Facebook has changed hundreds of times since it first started and it will continue to change every couple months. Facebook is just like your boyfriend: If he was exactly like he was in high school and never changed, you would leave him too.
"Whoa, sweet, Osama bin Laden is on Facebook!"
@LegoMan322: Everyone I went to high school and college with, except three people, had an old AOL e-mail address for me. We closed that account in late 2000 and along with it went my address book. Oops.
Want to look them up in a phone book? None of them have land lines, and half of the woman have changed their names upon marriage. Oops.
Want to call up their parents and ask? Mom and dad retired and moved to Spain. Or died two years ago from cancer. Or divorced and remarried and have a new name. Oops.
Plus, the joy of Facebook is that it's a *self-updating* index of your friends. I never cared much about it one way or the other until I started wedding planning, but it's been a huge help for having a quick go-to on "Was his boyfriend Steven, or Stephen?" or, "I forget, are he and Debbie still together?" or, "I have two addresses... is the California one newer, or the Massachusetts one?"
Saved me about a week's worth of playing phone tag.
@IrvinGautham: I do the same, actually. There are some folks I initially met under my online alias who have since learned my real name and real life details (including, amusingly, my fiancé) but I never have it go the other way. If I nickname my Facebook account at all, it will have to be completely different from my other online handle(s).
@Unsolicited Advice: in my opinion, this change makes it more worthwhile. every year, i'll go to a few specialized overnight camps and a conference or 2 and hand out "contact cards" (think business card, but with contact information for a 20-something, and no work-related contact info)
i've never put my facebook url on there, because (in my opinion) that giant url looks sloppy.
Facebook is becoming MySpace. Bummer.
I call dibs on www.facebook.com/admin
Yeah, because remembering "sexyface921" is sooo much easier than remembering YOUR REAL NAME.
Stupid idea, facebook.
@LegoMan322: You missed my point. That's only useful if anyone actually WANTS to contact him. His original message was kinof like "Oh gawd, I was such hot snot back in HS, if I use my real name I'll be positively MOBBED!"
@Porcelina: @Etoiles: All I did was set up the FaceBook account. Find who I wanted to talk to and start to email them instead of talking threw FaceBook.
Their service is very......not good or it's a "front". They are just a front for your information (which is why it is valued at $15 billion).
I got what I needed. Since I could not find everyone, the people will find me through the same friends that we talk to.
I just think that is a much safer way than people I have not seen, don't really want to see constantly "friending" me. Also...why would you want to give FaceBook your information? Just not a smart thing to do...
Ohh and all those apps? Yeah they are not for your entertainment.
@LegoMan322: It's not as convenient and you can't start huge conversations with several friends at once, nor can you find people you haven't already found through e-mail, nor can you have a photo book to share with friends through e-mail, post event calendars, etc etc etc.
@Unsolicited Advice: I'll bite on your emo call for attention. Pray tell, how has this ruined Facebook? I'd also love to see that list of "series of changes".
@LegoMan322: I don't use the apps.
Newsflash: You aren't everyone. Stop pretending like your decisions and life choices are how everyone should live.
All I did was set up the FaceBook account. Find who I wanted to talk to and start to email them instead of talking threw FaceBook.
Wait. I thought it wasn't useful to you at all! Stop trying to look ~cool~ by saying you don't use facebook, when you clearly do. Also, it's "through".
I think this change is more geared towards brands and commercial entities. After all, the test for vanity URLS was www.facebook.com/stanford. Also, DAMN, if you don't want a vanity URL than don't get a vanity URL.
@nakedscience: Because it's a needless addition. Why would someone you theoretically know (since that's what facebook is for) prefer to find you or identify you with some screen name instead of your ACTUAL name?
I don't get it. I've been using an alias on FB for years.
@morganlh85: Um, many people ONLY know me, or know me best, from my online name.
Also, it's not always a screen name; it could be a NICKNAME.
Also, it's easier to remember than string of numbers, so you can easily point someone to your facebook account.
@bbagdan: Many people who have unusual names sometimes get banned, so you must use a pretty generic alias.
@takes_so_little: Nah, I didn't read it that way. Nobody liked me in high school and I still get plenty of random-ass friend requests.
@kexline: I was quiet and shy and not popular (basically, most people didn't notice me), and I'm always surprised at who remembers me/wants to add me. I'm from a pretty small town, so that explains some of it, but damn, sometimes I'm like, "You were a total cuntface in hs, why would I want to add you?!"
When Facebook was introduced, it was very good at a few things:
1.) Controlling who got in. Rather than Myspace's sea of psuedonyms, .edu addresses were required. This reduced the appearance of impostors, marketers, and other annoyances.
2.) Standardizing the user experience. The pages were relatively uniform, straightforward, and free from clutter.
3.) Emphasizing planning and communication. The only real features were events, groups, photo sharing, and and statuses.
Now, I'm bombarded with applications, surrounded by psuedonyms, and have to sift through context menus to perform basic tasks. If you have an iPhone, the app there is drastically superior to the website which is now jam-packed with extraneous "features" that reduce the usefulness of the site to me. Maybe some people want to sit around on Facebook for "entertainment" and pirate spam applications but that wasn't my approach to the application.
@bbagdan: This only relates to the URL, apparently, not your name. Facebook's policy is that you are supposed to use your real name, but they are breathtakingly bad at enforcing it, harassing and banning people with unusual names, and then failing to notice when people give themselves names like "Racing Ray" or "Stressed Sam".
Somehow I feel I can get myself into some mischief by choosing my friends REAL name as my alias.