
Facebook Asks Users If They’ll Pay For Vanity URLs - peter123
http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/04/facebook-vanity-urls/
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patio11
Quote: _This could theoretically be a huge business in that URLs could go
through a bidding process. Want to get the URL<http://www.facebook.com/shoes>?
You better be willing to bid against companies like Zappos, who I’m sure would
be willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars._

shoes.com, sure, several hundred thousand dollars... but how would you EVER
justify that for a URL on Facebook? Is there some hithertofore unknown
population of users who are breaking up with their boyfriend one day and then
say "You know, I want to console myself with a shoe purchase. I wonder what
happens if I highlight the last portion of that thingee in the box thingee,
and then type shoes and hit enter. Hmm, Zappos, haven't ever heard of them
before or else I would have just Googled but hey, I'm so going to buy a shoe
from them."

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treyp
maybe the solution, then, would be to only allow this for personal profiles?

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ryanwaggoner
Would this have an effect on SEO? Would <http://facebook.com/shoes> be more
likely to rank well for a search for "shoes"?

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catch23
it probably would. watch has hundreds of 5-letter words are horded by SEO
marketing firms.

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kenhty
Anyone know <http://profile.to> ?

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batasrki
How would this be a sustainable revenue stream? I mean, if you pay for a
vanity URL, it would surely be a one-time cost, no? Especially after going
through a bid.

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nreece
If you own a personal domain, why not just setup a redirection for
yourdomain.com/facebook to your Facebook profile. It's vanity, and it's free.

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Raphael
MySpace had "vanity" URLs from day one. For free.

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kyochan
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... is on top of numerous search results, so I do think
facebook.com/... is viable.

