If rumors are true we may see Facebook offer vanity URLS as soon as next week. What the vanity URL promises is to turn ugly lengthy links to your profile like http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=531173044 into something more memorable like http://www.facebook.com/judie.lipsett. Facebook has been offering these types of URLS since earlier in the year but only to celebrities and the closely connected business customers. It’s unknown whether these URLS will be free or if there will be a fee associated. Adding a vanity URL will likely go a long way toward enticing users to establish and use a Facebook profile as their primary online identity. The biggest issue will be duplicate users. While it will be great to have http://www.facebook.com/fred (assuming of course your name is Fred) – the reality is that you’ll probably be stick with http://www.facebook/fred1658.

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