Why Facebook Introduced Username

I was pretty sure the reason why Facebook introduced “username” was because they wanted to add Twitter-like (or MySpace-like) public interface for each user. They have Fan Pages, but they are not designed for personal accounts (they are more for businesses or public figures). This is why I got very serious about securing the username “roxanne” for my wife (my own name “dyske” is too easy.), and I succeeded.

Now some rumors are spreading about this public feature of Facebook, called “Everyone” button, which will allow you to publish your status update to the general public. The idea is that your username URL would be the public access point. If you go to

http://www.facebook.com/dyske

you would see my public status updates, that is, assuming that you are not my “friend”. (If you are my “friend”, you would see everything: both public and private updates.) And, this page would act just like your Twitter page does. It’s a good idea. It would greatly enhance the value of Facebook, while still keeping the valuable aspects of the semi-private communication (among your friends).

Without these public features, username URLs would be rather useless. Those who are already my friends would not need to use the URL. And, those who are not my friends, should not be sending me friend requests anyway, which means I should not promote my personal URL. Then, why would I need one?

Facebook probably did not want to announce these features before the opening of username registration, because if they did, the competition for securing usernames would have been much more intense (and therefore taxing on their server).

—posted by Dyske   » Follow me on Twitter or on Facebook Page