Facebook Almost Auctioned Off User Names

Facebook vice president of technical operations Jonathan Heiliger said the social-networking site originally planned an auction-style format for the process of claiming user names, and it kept the code name “Hammer” even after the company decided to distribute user names on a first-come, first-served basis.

In an interview with GigaOm senior writer Om Malik, Heiliger joked, “We decided to keep the ‘Hammer’ code name because it was going to hammer our site.”

He added that Facebook avoided issues with the rollout by isolating the user-name function from all of its other services, and the company had extra hardware at the ready in case the site’s bandwidth got jammed.

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Tim Devane (bitly), and SocialTimes' writer Devon Glenn.   Register now.