Facebook just lauched its Faceboook Usernames feature last night. Everyone predicted a URL land grab roughly equivalent to the conquest of the Americas, so it should come as no surprise that 200,000 usernames were registered in the first 3 minutes alone (via Mashable).
Now, I’m lucky enough to have married a man with a last name that nobody can spell, much less pronounce. So, I was able to avoid waiting patiently by the computer to claim my Facebook vanity URL. However, you may not have been so fortunate. If someone stole the Facebook username of your dreams out from under you, look for it on Assetize.
Assetize is a service that lets people auction off online accounts, including Twitter accounts, blogs and now, Facebook usernames. Would you like to be http://www.facebook.com/sirrichardbranson? That’ll be $10,0000 please! Or maybe you’re an Adam. Http://www.facebook.com/adam is available for the small fee of $99,999,999.99.
Assetize is easy to use, and there are a variety of search options available to make it easy to find the vanity Facebook URL or Twitter account you’re looking for, as long as someone has it up for sale. It would be a useful service for anyone who has a famous name or a brand to protect, although most normal, noncommercial Facebook users are probably better off without it.
What do you think of Assetize? Are they providing a useful service, or just encouraging people to hold potentially valuable online accounts hostage?
Our Rating of Assetize
Categories:social
Assetize – Facebook Usernames For Sale To The Highest Bidder – UsefulTools.com http://ow.ly/dUfk
Facebook Usernames For Sale To The Highest Bidder – UsefulTools.com http://tinyurl.com/ktzwb4
RT @usefultools: Assetize – Facebook Usernames For Sale To The Highest Bidder – UsefulTools.com http://ow.ly/dUfk
[...] cards ( via mashable); I’ve used TwtBiz & an going to try iphone app Beamme Facebook Usernames For Sale To The Highest Bidder – usefultools.com 06/13/2009 Facebook just lauched its Faceboook Usernames feature last night [...]
wow I would definately pay that to be sirrichardbranson….im sure many would!
RT @usefultools Assetize – Facebook Usernames For Sale To The Highest Bidder – UsefulTools.com http://ow.ly/dUfk