I agree completely.
I liked Facebook for it's more business and networking type of use than say, Bebo (which is what we use here mostly in New Zealand) which was full of 13 year old kids tYpEn LyK DiZ En sPeliN wErdZ iNkOreKLy@@@!!!!! ugh, and it's full of spam too.
Wait for the invasion

Ugh.

Yay, Vegrandis! I'm from New Zealand too! Wooo! I have a Bebo account and I am constantly being spammed.

ha that made me giggle "tYpEn LyK DiZ En sPeliN wErdZ iNkOreKLy"

I actually saw a haircare range on the shelf the other day, which does the exact same thing! I started stressing out in the shop (english language graduate and a massive grammar geek)!

FB spams a lot more now asking you to add certain applications. I've removed half of my junk from my profile and I do like the privacy features. What I don't like is that if you tag a friend in a photo, their friend can click on it and is able to look through that entire album.

Yes obviously people will say if you don't want to share then don't post but .... it is annoying.

Yes it could lead to handles being used but you can use fake names anway, I've seen lots of Mary Tinkerbell Jones' for example when clearly their name isn't that! You don't have to provide your real name as it is.

I liked when FB was just for university/college students

I think its cool 2 give out ur facebook adress.. wont bother me in any other way I think

I agree completely. I thought facebook was supposed to be the networking site where you could find people easily and be a little more professional. Facebook would lose a lot of people if they switched to full user name usage I'm just not exactly sure where people would go.

i dont want that change... you may look hi5 ..thta is pretty comment here in Ecuador... the page looked lika a circus because ypu can custome them... i see many latin people want that on facebook, im latin person but i totally agains that crazy circus, i like very minimalist things ... i just than thing coming to FB.. i love the way it is now, just a clean simple desing... that customize thing is the reason i leave hi5, myspace,bebo, tagged.
that new thing about the username i dont like, it seem like the FB want to change, really bad news

I really don't think this is necessary. I wish they would just keep it the same, I'm finally starting to get used to the new layout (which I still don't love) and this would just make it more complicated. I love facebook, but I think this would make it annoying to use. Anyway, I'm annoyed about all the quizzes and applications-just because I take a quiz doesn't mean I want to compare my results with those of my friends!

I'm definitely turned off by this- I liked Facebook better when it was just colleges and implemented more of the getting back in touch with people, rather than being spammy and is now more about random people friending as many people as possible.

I think you're exactly right, Geek. The great thing about Facebook is that you know you're interacting with real people rather than their online personas. Adding usernames is a bad idea.

I, too, liked it better when it was only for colleges.

But it's not now. It is also for bands and companies. For this reason, I can see why the username is more ideal. It is much much much cheaper (and easier to promote) facebook.com/bandname than to run an entire website.

Also, a lot of people use Facebook and Twitter for professional reasons and would like their name to be easily found by employers that way.

For my personal facebook account, I have my privacy settings maxed out anyway, so having a username is pointless for me. However, for my professional account (coworkers, etc.), having a username would be nice.

Agree 100 percent, disagree 0 percent.

I got so sick of the MySpace bootie calls from random people I killed my account. I like FB better, but the privacy concerns are strong.

Bri

Usernames on FB will inevitably invite all kinds of ridiculousness a la MySpace and whatever other social networking sites that aren't popular now and will just add a lot of spam to my inbox and profile.

Doing the news feed was a good thing. Getting rid of the old Friends page [unless YOU organize all your friends into groups, and even then you see who's updated in alphabetical order, not the order of most recent updates, which is STUPID; adding all of these applications where you have to let 3rd parties have access to your profile, opening the site to users that weren't in school or professional groups and making a Twitter-like layout, etc. were are VERY BAD THINGS for FB.

No wonder the NYT said Facebook is dead and Twitter killed it. I think I'll have to get a LinkedIn account...hopefully dumb things won't creep over there...

Is this compulsory? I don't really want my name on my URL. For some reason.

I don't get what the big deal is, why everyone thinks this is so awful. Unless I'm misunderstanding what the article says, it's just a way to simplify the URL of a persons profile, it's not replacing our real names on our profiles or in searches or anything...

I guess I just think people make WAY too big a deal out of a website that, yes, is a lot of fun and very useful, but if you don't like it, quit complaining and stop using the website. No one is making you stay...

i remember when my school first got facebook, and the network was less than 10 colleges... oh the changes since then...

the only good thing about the usernames are the custom URLs.

and tell me facebook isn't going to have serious issues at 12:01 with everyone and their mom logging on to claim their username...

I echo most sentiments...usernames are unprofessional, I LOATHE "lolcats" speak like post #1 mentioned, and kinda wish it was more exclusive like when it was just colleges...sigh. Nothing gold can stay.

I think people are a little confused about this...everyone will still have their real names and that is how you will still see your friends and other people around the site. The "user names" will just replace your Facebook user ID in the URL of your profile.

It will make it easier to find people you already know and for people you know to find you. Say your name is Sarah Jones. There are probably hundreds of Sarah Jones on Facebook, and it could be hard for someone to find the *right* Sarah. With user names, you could just tell your friend that you are sjones85, and they would be able to go to facebook.com/sjones85. Before, the only way to do that would be to give someone your Facebook ID which is like 9 random numbers long and kind of a pain.

Pages are also going to have the option of doing this which will make it easier for companies and products to point people to their official page instead of wading through unofficial fan creations.

I like this! Not for personal use (I prob. won't do this for my personal account), but for facebook pages, I love it. I just started a page for work, so to be able to market the specific address is way easier than saying, "log in and search for company x".

I totally get that people with common names may like this feature (to use Chouette's example) because they can just give out their username. BUT why wouldn't you just add people on yourself as friends instead of passing out a username? I guess it just seems like a lot of effort for something that's not really a problem to begin with.

I'm glad this is optional now, because I really have no interest or need in a separate username. But I'm siding with Geek on this...the Facebook promotions on this rollout allude to the fact that usernames could become a bigger deal in the future. I think that's what concerns most people -- the fact that it could eventually take over as the new Facebook norm.

i probably wont be addng new friends if thet don't use their real name.

I pretty much have one now. I don't use my real name, so I guess I don't care.
I am new to Facebook though, and I find it difficult to navigate.

Like MySpace, Facebook usernames are just an option. If you don't want one, don't get one. I don't plan on getting one.

I don't use my real name, my last name is real, because for easy search. only ppl who needs to know are the onces are: billing my Internet, my domain provider, when I renewed my various services online via credit or paypal that is it. Oh, otherwise, my company name is 4 real. I always initial with my brands, which r real. Btw, if you're concerned about the Facebook vanity name: for now they are only implementing for: pages for biz and fans for over 1000 people or if you're registered by a certain date and time: read this article for more: http://mashable.com/2009/06/10/facebook-page-usernames/
Take care all:)

w00t! g0 nz! idk y yEwZ iz al dissin fb usernames, iz gona b mEEEEan...

...well, actually, I agree with Geek completely, Facebook used to be so simple, I was quite excited when I made the move from Bebo! But the novelty's worn off and I'm starting to get a little irritated at Facebook.

P.S Didn't realize there would be so many other NZers on Teamsugar, perhaps we're not sheep-shagger's after all?

It's part of Facebook's TOS that you have to use your real name, and if you see someone using an obvious fake name or a "screen name" type name, you can report them and they will have to change it. I don't work for Facebook, but I work on a Facebook related project, and I really don't think users will ever have to browse the site and see "lilbabyprincezz69" as somebody's identity instead of "Michelle Preston" or whatever.

I think I'm going to stick with my numbers and not a username for the URL. I'm currently engaged, and while I'd use my real name over an anonymous username, I don't think using my maiden name will help people find me in the long run, and my married name isn't mine yet, and I can imagine the crap I'd get from folks.

Plus, it's only a URL. I am not going into a professional field where I would be making contacts through facebook, so I don't foresee putting my URL on a business card or anything. I'm searchable by my first and last name, so if people need to find me, they can.

I'd love for facebook to go back to what it was when i first got it which was strictly for college students. i miss that facebook!

I was freaked out at first too. But I did my research. From what I understand, the user name is simply for the URL and NOT for application throughout your profile or throughout the site. It is merely meant as a simpler way to direct people to your profile page and bypass the crazy "searching through people with similar names if you don't have to" issue. For example, I know a guy named Thomas Smith. It took LOTS of sifting to find him on Facebook with such a common name. If he had been able to tell me his FB address was .....com/tom.smith12 it would have been oh so convenient. So long as you can't change your actual name on your profile or start being referred to by your pseudonym, I don't see the big issue.

LiLKate: You'll realize how silly that statement really is once you graduate college.

Can I point out the irony of all this? YOU ALL HAVE SCREENNAMES here! hahahaha