Facebook, the world’s largest social networking site, has announced they will start issuing “vanity urls” which will replace the old random numbers.

If you would like your own Facebook vanity url you will need to log on for 12.01.a.m EDT Saturday 13th June where you will be able to choose your url on a first come, first serve basis.  For companies that use social networks as part of their ongoing SEO campaign this is great news.

Some points to bear in mind if you are looking to secure your vanity url you will need to visit facebook.com/username where you will be given instructions on how to choose your own url which can only include numbers, letters and periods.  Once you have chosen your url you can’t change it so be careful with your choice.  Please bear in mind that their will be a rush on companies who want to secure their urls for branding and SEO.

One thing to consider for fan pages is that you must have at least 1,000 fans and created the account before 31st May 2009.

Sites such as Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn already offer vanity urls and it clearly offers a benefit to their brand and for people that search for that brand with that network will come across the official presence.

If you have a popular name be wary as it has been leaked that certain people, companies and employees may be getting first dibs on their selection.