Why Facebook user names are good for you and Facebook

I had read a little about the new Facebook user names today, and was surprised at the flaming negativity on Facebook’s blog post describing the feature. It was, well, read it:

That’s a bit overboard don’t you think? Facebook user names are a great idea and here is why:

1. Today, Facebook is most people’s online presence. It has replaced (for the most part) personal blogs, photo sharing sites, journals and social networks. It’s all of these combined. When you make a new contact and want to share your Facebook presence with them today, you have to say “You can find me on Facebook.” The user can then look you up and home there aren’t a bunch of people with your name. Facebook Profiles allow you to just say “I am at Facebook.com/jasonburns” and you are done.
2. Right now, linking to a Facebook profile is really ugly. Adding what is basically “pretty permalinks” gives Facebook a much better link story for business and fan pages. They link easier and are better for Search Engine Optimization.
3. It just makes perfect sense, get over it.

It’s coming, it’s overdue and it’s a good thing. Let it happen, calm down, I promise it will be ok.

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