If you have created a Facebook fanpage, you also want it to be found well. Facebook therefore allows you to generate a suitable address for the fanpage. You can choose a short and catchy short URL (Vanity-Url), which can be used on business cards or newspaper advertisements, for example. Facebook calls this vanity URL “username”. Each username exists only once and can be claimed by a person or company.
However, when you try to create a username, you may receive the following message:

You are not eligible to create a username


 Cause of error and solution

To create a username for a fanpage you have to be an administrator of the site. But that alone is not enough. Before you can create a username for the supervised fanpage, the following conditions must be fulfilled:
  • The fanpage must already have at least 25 Likes
  • You must not have created more than one fanpage lately
  • Your personal Facebook account needs to be verified
  • Your personal profile must not be newly created
  • For your personal Facebook account, a username must be defined
Unfortunately, Facebook doesn’t point out these prerequisites and instead only issues the above-mentioned, meaningless error message. If you have met the first requirement (minimum number of Facebook-Likes), you have to verify your personal Facebook account and define a username. These two conditions can be met quite easily:
Verify your personal Facebook account:
  1. Open the settings of Facebook (small arrows at the top right of the menu –> Settings)
  2. Switch then to the menu item Mobile phone
  3. Enter your mobile phone number there to verify your account
  4. Behind the added number now click on “Confirm“
  5. Facebook then sends you a confirmation code via SMS to
  6. Enter the received confirmation code into the provided field
Set personal username:
  1. Open the settings of Facebook (small arrows at the top right of the menu –> Settings)
  2. General account settings –> username
  3. Choose a username for your personal Facebook account
If you have verified your personal Facebook account and have a username, you can then normally create a username for the fanpage.

 Create username

To set a username for your fanpage, you have to click on Info in the left menu of the fanpage. On the following page you will find in the upper part of the menu: Create username for page.
Small problem, big effect