In: , ,
On: 2007 / 12 / 03
Shorter URL for this post: http://ozh.in/gm

One of the lesser advertised and known feature of Facebook is that you can link to a prettier profile URL than the default and rather lame profile.php?id=123456789. For instance, my profile URL is either: Ozh (full profile, sucky URL) or Ozh (short profile public page, slightly less sucky URL).

From an SEO perspective it does not change a lot since complete profile pages on Facebook are unspiderable by search engines because they are behind a login, but from a usability and readability point of view, I think it's better, since you get a hint of the actual destination of the link when hovering it.

To craft your own "prettier profile URL", go to your profile, and scroll all the way down to the very bottom. Click on "Create a Profile Badge" and here it is. Not as cool as Last.FM's plain /user/username/, but better anyway.

Although not explicitly mentioned, it works the same for pages that you can create for a site, product or anything (example: my blog's page), and you can even make it shorter replacing "people" with just "p" (example)

Edit: AH. Those retarded dumbasses replied to my feature suggestion with an account disabling, because it seems that using "Ozh Ozh" as a name is a violation of their TOS. Very great support there :) It's back. What a bunch of donkeys. Who cares if you're using your name, a nickname or your dog's name, really :)

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This entry "Facebook Prettier Profile URL" was posted on 03/12/2007 at 10:43 am and is tagged with , ,
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