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Add an Alternate Name and IM Nicknames to Facebook to ‎Make Yourself Easier to Find
When people are searching for you on Facebook, the first thing they do is run a search on your name. But what if they only know you by your maiden name or your name is just hard to spell? And what about the nickname you use on Skype, Google talk and AIM, Are they associated with your account? Facebook has a solution for these situations. In this post, we'll learn how to add an alternate name and IM screen names to your Facebook account, thus making you easier to find.
Alternate name on Facebook
As Facebook explain, the alternate name in your account "is only used to help people find you in search and will not show up in your profile". Use it "for a former name or a name in another language." Here is how to add an alternate name to your Facebook account:
- When logged in, choose "Account Settings" under "Settings" (you'll see it in the top right corner of the screen).
- Next to "Name," click "change."
- Enter a full name in the "Full Alternate Name" filed, and click the "Change Former Name" button below.
Once done, you'll see a note saying that "Your alternate name has been saved and will be used to help people find you in search."
IM screen name
To add your instant messaging nickname to your Facebook account, do as follows:
- Go to your profile page.
- Below your profile picture, click "Edit My Profile."
- Click "Contact Information."
- Choose your instant messaging accounts and fill in your nickname in the "IM Screen Name(s)" field (for some reason, you can only choose AIM, Google Talk, Skype, Windows Live, Yahoo, ICQ and Gadu-Gadu [?!]).
you might also want to read 20 Social Media Practices to Use in Your Daily Life [Presentation].
[Via Search for names on Facebook (the link is to the English translation of the original post, which was written in Hebrew).]
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Nice one!
Thanx a lot. Very useful.
Thanks! Was helpful.
Hey, and what if I get an error message saying: Your alternate name has not been saved. You must provide your full name. ???
Sorry Kasia, I don’t know what to do in this case…
you have to have 2 name in that bar
I have the same problem as Kasia. Does anyone know where we can find information to fix this problem?
Thanks!
This is kinda hard to explain so ill try my best..
When i go in peoples facebook profiles, some people have a personalized name in the browser searchfield suck as:
http://www.facebook.com/profile/lordkensington insted of http://www.facebook.com/profile/1234..
Do you know how to fix this to my profile?
Yes. Go to http://www.facebook.com/username/ and set your URL there.
its really helpfull thanx
hey i can,t add my yahoo!messenger . what is the system of adding these IM names http://www.facebook.com/samazgor?v=info
Hi Eyal!
I hope you could help me…
i’m having some difficulties with adding my alternative name.
I am studying Chinese and therefore I wanted to add my name in Chinese.
The problem is, that FB won’t let me change it!
Could you please help me? THX ALOT!
mattia
Very good Info
Hi,
I don’t have any alternate name how will it sound if i prefix my same real name in IM
Thank you so much!! Somehow I misesd this when I set up my account, so I was very happy to find your instructions.
hello there grant here is there link address ,ring them for advice ,just say gareth gail recommened you
thanks alot, its now very clear 2 me