Here Comes the Facebook Landrush

The Facebook vanity URL landrush is coming. Rather than having to user some arcane number for your profile and pages associated with it, such as http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=123456789, you'll be albe to select your own username on first-come, first-served basis. When? Starting at 12:01AM EDT on Saturday.

Yes, we West Coasters don't hae to stay up that late if we want to get the vanity UJRL of our choice. This is, of course, assuming that we can even get through to the site at that time.

Here's what Facebook said in their blog post announcing the landrush:

We're planning to offer Facebook usernames to make it easier for people to find and connect with you. When your friends, family members or co-workers visit your profile or Pages on Facebook, they will be able to enter your username as part of the URL in their browser. This way people will have an easy-to-remember way to find you. We expect to offer even more ways to use your Facebook username in the future.

Limitations:

• Romanized text only.
• At least 5 characters in length.
• Alphanumeric + .

But be careful in your choice:

Think carefully about the username you choose. Once it's been selected, you won't be able to change or transfer it. If you signed up for a Facebook Page after May 31 or a user profile after today at 3 p.m. EDT, you may not be able to sign up for a username immediately because of steps we've taken to prevent abuse or "squatting" on names.

Watch the countdown here.