Google+ launches vanity URLs, catching up to Facebook, Twitter
The tech giant starts rolling out custom URLs for certain brands and
users, like +britneyspears and +toyota. Now, memorizing those long
strings of numbers could be a thing of the past.
Both Twitter and Facebook
have offered vanity URLs personalized to users' accounts for years --
something that has been glaringly vacant in Google Plus' URLs. But,
that's about to change.
Google's social network announced today
that vanity URLs for profiles and pages are on their way. It has even
begun rolling out a few for celebrities, like soccer player David Beckham and pop singer Britney Spears, along with brands like Toyota, Delta, and Hugo Boss.
Here's what Google product manager Saurabh Sharma wrote in a blog post today:
Your Google+ profile is a place for you to share your passions with the
millions of people who come to Google each day...Today we're introducing
custom URLs to make it even easier for people to find your profile on
Google+. A custom URL is a short, easy to remember web address that
links directly to your profile or page on Google+.
Sharma writes that at first just a few "verified profiles and pages"
will get custom URLs, but eventually they will be offered to "many
more" people and brands around the world. It's not clear how Google is
choosing who is "verified" and who isn't and the timeframe for the
greater inclusion of vanity URLs.
In other Google+ news, the social network also announced today that it
is launching a new audio setting for hangouts called "Studio Mode,"
which optimizes sound specifically for music. Beforehand, hangout sound
was tweaked for conversations; but now by clicking settings and
switching from "Voice" to "Studio Mode," music should sound more like a
live concert than a video conference.
"Since we launched
Google+ a little over a year ago, we've seen a thriving community of
musicians connect with fans in really cool ways," Google product manager
Matthew Leske wrote in a blog post
today. "In particular: singer/songwriters like +Daria Musk, bands like
+Suite 709, and many others are using Hangouts On Air to perform live
for global audiences, and jam with fans face-to-face."
Dara Kerr, a freelance journalist based in the Bay Area, is fascinated
by robots, supercomputers and Internet memes. When not writing about
technology and modernity, she likes to travel to far-off countries.
Both Twitter and Facebook
have offered vanity URLs personalized to users' accounts for years --
something that has been glaringly vacant in Google Plus' URLs. But,
that's about to change.
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