So maybe you’re not famous enough to get your own Facebook vanity URL like U2, alleged girl beater Chris Brown, or US President Barack Obama……big whoop. Never mind, you can still get a much simpler address than http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=719911306 (which makes next to no sense and is pretty well impossible to remember) using your own domain name and a little ol’ thing called a .htaccess file.
If you’ve already got your own domain name and hosting you’re almost ready to have your own Facebook Vanity URL. All you need to do now is add a sub-domain and a .htaccess file to your hosting server. If you don’t have your own domain name (mine is www.mathewpacker.com) then head on over to GoDaddy and pick one out. Register it, and then come on back to this tutorial.
If your hosting service allows it, go and add a sub domain to your account (you should be able to find documentation at your domain hosting service to show you how to add a sub domain). To keep it easy to remember I’ve added http://facebook.mathewpacker.com to my MediaTemple account. Now that the sub domain is active all I need to do is to add the .htacess file – with a little URL rewrite rule in it – and voila, I have a very easy to remember Facebook URL.
The .htaccess file we’re going to add looks a little like this;
# This allows you to redirect your entire website to any other domain Redirect 301 / http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=719911306
Open your favourite text editor and paste in that code, just make sure your change the id=719911306 bit to your Facebook ID, otherwise you’ll be sending all your friends to my profile… not that they wont thank you for it (ha-ha). Now, when you save the .htaccess file to your new sub domain make sure you name the file .htaccess (the dot is very important!) otherwise it just wont work.
If all has gone well you should now be able to hand out a much easier to remember Facebook URL to all your friends, colleagues, and anyone else you care to tell. Mine is http://facebook.mathewpacker.com if you want to add me to your friend list. You can use this rewrite rule practically anywhere, Facebook Pages, Facebook Groups, etc. Once you’ve set your new Facebook Vanity URL up leave me a comment with your new and improved Facebook URL in it.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
SNOBS’ Facebook Group now has its own vanity URL! (with a little help from Mat – cos servers and code n’ stuff is still quite mind boggling). Our super gorgeous vanity URL is http://snobs.facebook.com.au
Please join us if you’re on Facebook, and let us know where to find your business-related group or fan page.
Now Ive been wondering how to do this for aaaaaaages and just never got around to learning how to do it and then I come across this article and Voila in less than 10mins top my Facebook vanity URL is up!!!
http://facebook.babysitterdirectory.com.au
Now the only issue is this. Unless you’re are logged into Facebook this URL directs you to the non logged in view. Not like this persons vanity URL – http://marismith.com/facebook – which diverts you to her facebook fanpage where you can see all the information etc.
Ive noticed that your vanity URL – http://facebook.mathewpacker.com – also diverts you to a please login page.
Now the question is how can I get my redirection looking like – http://marismith.com/facebook ie you can see all the data of fans and info boxes etc?
Questions, questions!!
Actually this is the correct URL – http://marismith.com/fanpage.
Hi Ann
Glad it worked for you so fast.
The actual problem you’re having is a security issue, basically the way facebook works is that profiles and pages are only viewable to people who are actual facebook users. The idea behind it is to encourage signups on facebook, but also to provide a safe and secure network where the users have real control over their privacy.
As a facebook user I applaud facebook for doing this, as a business person I kind of wish pages were more visible.
Hope that helps / makes sense.
Cheers
Mat
Actually, on closer inspection if you set your preferences so that YOUR profile is completely visible then yes you will be directed to the profile and be able to see everything.
Hi Matt, what you say makes sense but also not….if you know what I mean!!
If what you say is true – “the way facebook works is that profiles and pages are only viewable to people who are actual facebook users”, why then can you see Mari Smiths FB if you just enter the URL – http://marismith.com/fanpage?
The FB page you get presented shows all the information but the enticement:
“…..Sign up for Facebook to connect with Mari Smith – Relationship and Buzz Marketing Specialist.”
And my preferences are set to be fully viewable world wide but still cant figure it out!
I want to keep my personal facebook and then have a page for my business..
How do I apply the same principles to a page?
I did it… took a little help from twitter too but we got there in the end!
Thank you for giving valuable information, but i need SEO urls like facebook to my own domain. I mean urls with dots like – http://www.mydomain.com/anil.kumar.panigrahi
Can you make any suggestion for me? thank you.