Afterword

ThimphuTech was the first technology blog in Bhutan. We started writing it in 2009, just as broadband and mobile internet started to take off. (Although internet in Bhutan was launched in 1999, it was either super-slow or super-expensive, and was only used by a selected few).

In the blog, we wrote about technology and food, but also about plenty of other stuff. The blog became popular and influential in Bhutan. A companion bi-weekly column -- Ask Boaz -- was published for many years in the Kuensel, Bhutan's national newspaper. (The complete Kuensel columns are available as an ebook, Blogging with Dragons).

We stopped updating the blog when we left Bhutan in 2014, but the information within the posts can still prove useful, and thus we decided to keep it online.

We thank all our readers.
Tashi Delek,
Boaz & Galit.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Creating usernames for Facebook Pages


Like a growing number of organizations in the Kingdom, Bhutan Observer has a Facebook page which it is trying to promote. In an effort to encourage the readers to "Like" the page, BO has a weekly "Find us on Facebook" ad in the paper, which includes the web address of the Facebook page. Take a look at the address.  Is it easy to remember? It is convenient to type?

The solution: A username. Facebook allows people and pages to have their own username (e.g., facebook.com/ThimphuTech).

Many of the newspaper in Bhutan already have their own username, for example Kuensel (facebook.com/Kuensel) and The Bhutanese (facebook.com/TheBhutaneseNewspaper). Business-Bhutan and Bhutan Observer, on the other hand, are still using long and cumbersome addresses.

Getting your own username is easy. Go to facebook.com/username, and follow the simple instructions.
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousSaturday, May 19, 2012

    It looks as if Bhutan Observer has changed the graphic to a new one that does not mention their Facebook page URL. Why? Because the graphic is a link! You just have to click on it, not remember the address. Even Business Bhutan, with a hyphen in their FB page address probably would lose visitors who don't expect the hyphen...

    Vanity URLs and memorable domain names are nice, but most people get around the 'net by clicking links, not typing in URLs.

    ReplyDelete
  2. BoazSaturday, May 19, 2012

    @KenA, the ad above appears in BO's print edition. Unfortunately, clicking on paper ads does not work (yet)...

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSunday, May 20, 2012

    Nice one! May a QR code would help... Still, the easiest is simply to type Bhutan Observer Facebook into my browser's address bar or Google. URLs, spelling mistakes and missed hyphens no longer matter.

    ReplyDelete

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