It’s frustrating to think that you’ve spent so much time thinking of a cool username only to find out that it’s already taken. So why go through all the trouble when you can find out whether it’s still available or not before you go to the site where you’re supposed to join? Not only that, you also get the chance to check the username’s availability on more than a hundred social networking and bookmarking sites – all in one go.

If you still don’t know how, go ahead and read on.

How to check if a username or vanity URL is still available on social media sites

• First, click this link to go to the homepage of “NameChk”. It’s a site where you can check for the availability of your chosen username or vanity URL.
• Once you’re on NameChk, type the username that you want to search on the field provided. For example, if you want to find out if the username “nachopancho” is available, just type it on the search box and then click the “chk” button.

• Wait while the online tool checks your username or vanity URL. It may take a while so you need to be patient.
• With NameChk, you can check for username availability on over a hundred social networking and bookmarking sites. This includes Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Blogger, eBay, Flickr, Hulu, Digg, Twitpic, Tumblr, DailyMotion, Etsy, Vimeo, deviantART and a whole lot more.

• Once done, the online tool will highlight the sites where your username is still available. You can also identify those sites where your chosen username is already taken.

It’s that simple.