A lot of people don’t know but there is a difference between a Facebook page name and a Facebook page username. A Facebook page is not unique, while your Facebook page username is unique and you can create a Facebook page username after you have created your Facebook page.
In this quick tutorial, we are going to share everything you have to know about Facebook page username, including:
- What is the Facebook page username and where you can find it?
- How you can use the Facebook page username?
- What is the difference between Facebook page username, and Facebook page name?
- How does the Facebook page username related to Facebook page URL?
- How to create a Facebook page username?
- How you can change your Facebook page username?
- How to choose a good Facebook page user name?
- Troubleshooting when you can’t change a Facebook page user name
If you prefer to watch a video tutorial on Facebook page usernames, check out this one:
At the end of this tutorial, we are also going to answer some of the most frequently asked questions related to creating a Facebook page user name.
If you are using the new Facebook Page experience, here is how to change the Facebook page username:
What is the Facebook page user name?
The Facebook page username is the name that appears under the Facebook page name on your Facebook page. You have to create it separately as you don’t get a Facebook page username when you create your FB page.
When you create the Facebook page username, it will help your FB page to be more easily linkable as we will show in the next paragraph, and your Facebook page URL will also get the unique username you have created that is usually a much nicer URL than the one that Facebook has autogenerated when you have created your Facebook page.
How to use the Facebook page user name?
Once you have created the vanity URL of your Facebook page URL, you can use it to link your Facebook page easily. Let us show you three very useful ways how you can leverage the Facebook page URL:
- Tag your Facebook page from Posts easily
When you want to mention or refer to your Facebook page on a personal or in business post on Facebook newsfeed or in a Facebook group, you can link your Facebook page easily by adding the @ sign+ your Facebook page username.
- Link your Facebook page with fb.me/username
When you are outside of Facebook, and when you have created a Facebook page username then you can also use a short link to link to your Facebook page. This short link is the following:
- Link to your Messenger page of your Facebook page
Similarly, to the previous one, you can also use short links to link to Messenger where people can directly message your business. To use this link, all you have to do is to create the Facebook page username. The link is the following:
Facebook page username vs Facebook page name
Some people might get confused with differentiating the Facebook page name and Facebook page username so let’s try to kill this confusion.
The Facebook page is the one you add when you create your Facebook page, and it doesn’t have to be a unique name and it can be totally different from the Facebook page username, although they should be pretty similar for branding purposes.
The Facebook page username is the one you create after your Facebook page has been created and this username has to be unique, so no other Facebook page or Facebook profile can have the same Facebook page username.
Facebook page username and Facebook page URL
When you create a Facebook page, Facebook will auto-generate you a Facebook page URL that is unique but most likely has weird text and numbers in it like this one:
Fortunately, you can change the Facebook page URL by creating your Facebook page username as your custom URL will be facebook.com/username when you create a FB page username. You can learn more about Facebook page URL here.
How to create a Facebook page user name?
It is really easy to create a Facebook page user name, here are the steps you have to go through:
- Open your Facebook newsfeed, then click on Pages on the left side
- Choose the Facebook page you want to change the URL of.
- On the top of the Facebook page’s homepage, click on ‘Create @username’
- New in this new pop-up window, you can add a Facebook username.
- Then click on ‘Create Username’
If your Facebook page username complies with Facebook page username rules (see below) then you have created your Facebook page username. If you don’t see it yet, refresh the Facebook page. Now you can use it to link and shortlink your Facebook page and your Messenger page on Facebook and outside of Facebook as well.
How to change the username of a Facebook page?
When you have already created a Facebook page username but changed your mind and have a better username idea or the brand name of your company or your website has changed then you also have the opportunity to change the Facebook page username. To do this, follow this step by step process:
- Open the Facebook page, you want to change the username of
- Click on Edit page info
- Then on the top of the page, change the username of the Facebook page
If the new Facebook page username is unique then Facebook has changed the username to a new one. There isn’t any kind of restrictions on how many times you can change the username of a Facebook page.
How to create a Facebook page user name on mobile?
If you are on mobile, check out this video tutorial on how to change your Facebook page user name using the Facebook mobile app:
How to choose a good Facebook page user name?
As the FB page username should be easy to remember it is worth thinking of the best possible username you can have. If you can, avoid numbers in the username unless a number is included in your brand name as well.
If it is not taken yet, choose a Facebook page username that is the same as your Facebook page name. If it is taken, we would still recommend choosing a FB page username that includes your name or your brand name as well.
Can’t change Facebook page user name (or create it)
There are three main types of reasons why you can’t change your Facebook page username. Let’s explain all of them.
- Your Facebook page has just been created. When you didn’t collect 24 likes to your Facebook page, Facebook won’t allow you to create your FB Page username. You can easily pass this threshold by inviting some of your FB friends to like the page.
Similar to the previous one, you also have to have at least one Facebook post posted on your website before you would be able to create a Facebook page username
- The username that you want to have has already been taken by someone else. As we said, your Facebook page username has to be unique (unlike Page names), so you can’t have a username that has been taken by another Facebook page.
In this case, you can check the FB page that has the username and if you see that they are not active on Facebook, you can try to ask them to change their username to something else. Facebook sometimes also takes away the username from old inactive Facebook pages.
- The third possible reason for Facebook not allowing you to change or create the Facebook username is when the desired username doesn’t comply with Facebook naming rules. There isn’t really a solution for this, you have to comply with Facebook’s username naming rules.
We will elaborate on these FB page username rules in the next paragraph.
Although it should be obvious but let’s also not that you also have to be an admin of the FB page to be able to modify the username of a Facebook page.
Facebook page username rules
As we have mentioned you have to comply with some naming rules when it comes to Facebook page usernames:
- Usernames can only contain alphanumeric characters (A–Z, 0–9) and periods (“.”). They can’t contain generic terms or extensions (.com, .net).
- Usernames must be at least 5 characters long and can’t be longer than 50 characters.
- Periods (“.”) and capitalization can’t be used to differentiate usernames..
- Usernames shouldn’t impersonate someone else.
- The username must adhere to the Facebook’s Terms of Service
Frequently Asked Questions – Facebook page username
I can’t edit my Facebook page user name, why?
If you can’t modify the Facebook page username, check out these explanations that can cause the issue:
- You are not the admin of the Facebook page.
- You don’t comply with Facebook username naming rules.
- You didn’t post anything to the page yet, or you don’t have 24 likes on the Facebook page yet
- You want to use a Facebook page username that has been taken by another Facebook page
What if the Facebook page user name I want to have is not available?
You don’t really have a lot of options here, as Facebook page usernames have to be unique, so if yours is taken you can’t really do anything. You can ask the owner of that Facebook page to change their username or you can hope if they are inactive that Facebook will take it away from that FB page.
