Starting Sunday, June 28 at 12:01am EST, Facebook has allowed all page owners to register a so called vanity URL.

With a vanity URL, brands can improve their presence on the web. These URLs can be easily recognized anywhere (i.e. http://www.facebook.com/audi for Audi), and they can help a profile page appear more prominently in search results. There’s another incentive to get a vanity URL: preventing someone else to use a vanity URL with your brand.

Vanity URLs come when FB is rolling out a number of other public-facing features useful to brands. FB’s new “Everything is Public by Default” setting allows to send out status updates and other information that are publicly available. This is excellent for brands, as a public-facing profile can be viewed by anyone. Companies can now have their social media presence established as a true extension of their brands, products and services.

FB is also making ads more interactive. For example, you might see an ad for a brand’s page, see a “become a fan” button, and officially become a fan without having going to the page itself. Vanity URLs facilitate consistency with the ad message or title.

Summary: FB is blending advertising with content users are sharing. The URLs make the brand more transmittable and accessible, while the ads invite users to create and disseminate co-created content. This branded content then becomes increasingly public and relevant.