Google recently announced it will be introducing vanity URLs for profiles and pages in its social network, Google+, a feature which has been offered by Facebook and Twitter for many years.
Google+ has begun rolling out a few vanity URLs for celebrities like David Beckham, Hugh Jackman and for brands like Toyota, Ubisoft and Hugo Boss.
"Your Google+ profile is a place for you to share your passions with the millions of people who come to Google each day...Today we're introducing custom URLs to make it even easier for people to find your profile on Google+," said Saurabh Sharma, product manager for Google in a blog. "A custom URL is a short, easy to remember web address that links directly to your profile or page on Google+."
Sharma also said, that the first few custom URLs will be "verified profiles and pages" which will eventually grow out and be offered to many other people and brands. But Google has not said how it will choose who is "verified" and who is not, it has also not given a time frame either for such inclusions either.
Google+ also announced that it will be launching a new audio setting for hangouts called "studio mode" that optimizes sound for music. The hangout sounds were tweaked for conversations, now when you click setting, and switch from "voice" to "studio mode," music will be like a live concert rather than a video conference.
"Since we launched Google+ a little over a year ago, we've seen a thriving community of musicians connect with fans in really cool ways," wrote Matthew Leske, product manager Google in a blog. "In particular: singer/songwriters like +Daria Musk, bands like +Suite 709, and many others are using Hangouts On Air to perform live for global audiences, and jam with fans face-to-face."
