COMMENTS
Very handy blog. I'd previously done this, but spent about an hour trawling through Facebook's non-user friendly help section trying to find out how to do it.
I think it's an absolute must for businesses!
This is something I wish Facebook would display a link for on profiles and pages. Whenever I create a new page, I'm always searching their help section for that URL.
Fantastic - thanks for sharing - keep the tips coming!
Yes, facebook along with any other social media site is a must for companies. I don't understand why some companies are so resistant to social media sites. If CNN has one it's time for your company to have one.
Ugg. Make sure you spell it correctly. Anyone know if they will offer the ability to edit it if it is spelled wrong?
What about "Group" pages, can a URL be set for those?
I agree with Steve B., Vanity URL's for businesses are a "must.
Be careful, Barrett learned the hard way. From Facebook: "Think carefully about the username you choose for your Page as once it has been selected, you will not be able to change or transfer it." I don't know if that will change later on.
I have a FB fan page with over 1,000 fans at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Singapore-Part-Time-Jobs/151363290844 and assuming that I create a vanity URL for the page. Will the old URL redirect automatically as most of my fans are accustomed to the old URL.
@Amy - I don't believe this is available to groups... yet. Facebook is doubling down on business and community pages and focusing less and less on groups.
@Dipankar - Yes, your original (long) url for your page will redirect to your vanity url once you set it up.
Facebook is no longer allowing you to pick a business page URL. It might have to do with their recent plans to start charging for premium services.
THANK YOU! I had been trying to set my business name and was frustrated that it would only set my personal page name. Now I know that I needed to do that one first! Phew! THANKS!
Chris > I think there must be at least 100 fans (if I'm not wrong) before they allow vanity URLS.
Chris > I was wrong, the page should have a minimum of 25 fans. See http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=900 wow, FB does hide its help pages doesn't it? :)
I plan to make a fan/business page in Facebook. Does this Vanity Url work with that too? It really does help with making short urls.
Sometimes you don't wanna talk or even think about Facebook and it feels like it's taking all your time and ruining your life (I mean, like REAL life) but people still talk about Facebook so you can't really get away from it. Honestly, do you have a choice? And now behold: How to Create a Facebook Page Vanity URL. Wow! Who the heck has time for a vanity url? LOL
Marie
getonlinetx.com
vixenmedia.us
Grr- what am I doing wrong?? I created a vanity URL for my page on FB. When I try to create a URL for my business page i keep getting this error message :
Usernames must be at least 5 characters long
I have tried all poosibl ecombimations of URl with and without the http://www, facebook.com but I can't get past this error message. Can anyone help??
Getting the same message for a couple of days.
I am getting the same message! "Usernames must be at least 5 characters long" I've tried IE and FF - same thing.
I'm getting the same error message about the "5 characters..." when I'm also clearly typing in more than 5 characters. I found this blog during a google search for the error message. I already sent facebook help a message, but we all know it will take ages for them to reply. Hopefully they fix it soon!
Getting the same message for a couple of days.
Usernames must be at least 5 characters long
Yeah, Facebook. Let's fix this problem already!
Turns out this is a known bug and Facebook is working on it... in the meantime, some folks on the Facebook Help Forums have found a few tricks that work!
Try typing out the username, then delete it (the check availability button should turn grey) then retype the username.
You can follow the thread on Facebook here:
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=112858285417190&topic=171
I am seeing the same issue. Can somebody post here if Facebook fixes this issue?
I tried retyping the username a few times (suggested by @Ellie Mirman) and it eventually worked. Thanks for the tip!
I logged into facebook through Safari, went to facebook.com/username, typed in my username then deleted it and was able to enter it again and click save
Yes, thank you to Ellie. I tried it again last night as she mentioned. I typed out the name, erased it, clicked out of the box, typed again and hit enter. It worked fine with all three pages! I was using Google Chrome.
Thanks! Been trying to figure this out for days! You would think Facebook would have this information somewhere in their Help.
I found a workaround for this for both IE 8 and Firefox and posted it on our blog: http://www.hyperarts.com/blog/facebook-usernames-must-be-at-least-5-characters-long-bug/. It worked for me personally, using the Firefox method.
Thanks Lauren for the tip. Although using Firefox I had difficulty but I just kept persevering and suddenly I got it - http.facebook.com/horizoncottages.
We hope that it will improve our internet marketing campaign.