Username - AllTwitter

How To Get A Twitter Username You Love (And How To Change It If You Hate It)

Lauren Dugan — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 12:00:38 +0000

Setting up a Twitter account for the first time is not as simple as it seems. You’ve got to brainstorm a killer username, a label that people will know you by, one they’ll want to retweet, and something with that X factor of cool. Despite what you might think, you’re not stuck with “@iluvbkstrtboys7.” Here’s how to get your ideal Twitter username.
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Where Does The “RT” Go In A Retweet?

Lauren Dugan — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 10:00:01 +0000

The structure of a tweet is a bit of an enigma for plenty of Twitter newbies. And a retweet? Even more confusing.

But there are a few best practices when it comes to formatting your retweets, and they’re actually very simple once you get the hang of them.
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Get Your Twitter Name Tattooed Onto An Athlete Just In Time For The Olympics

Lauren Dugan — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:15:58 +0000

Now here’s an entrepreneur for the digital age: an Olympic athlete is offering to tattoo the name of one Twitter user onto his arm in order to subsidize his training for London.
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Would You Follow More Sports Stars On Twitter If They Had Their Usernames On Their Jerseys?

Lauren Dugan — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:15:20 +0000

Sports and Twitter have gone together like peanut butter and jam since day one. Sports stars have taken to expressing themselves pre- and post-game in 140-characters or less – and now Twitter is moving offline, and onto the players’ jerseys.
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When Will Twitter Release Unused Usernames?

Lauren Dugan — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:30:37 +0000

Dear Twitter,

I, like thousands of other users, don’t have my ideal username. Rather than tweeting from my desired “@LaurenDugan”, I have had to settle for an ugly underscore a la “@Lauren_Dugan”. Why? Because “@LaurenDugan” was taken… 3 years ago. And hasn’t been used since.
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Did Sean Parker Just Get Access To A New, New Twitter? And Compare It To Facebook?

Lauren Dugan — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:35:48 +0000

Sean Parker, the first president of Facebook and one of its early proponents, was tweeting today about what may just be a “new #NewTwitter”. But this Facebook afficionado’s words weren’t kind to the new layout (or perhaps bug, experiment or something else altogether).
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The Right Twitter Name Could Earn You A Trip Of A Lifetime – If You’re Willing To Sell

Lauren Dugan — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:20:00 +0000

Twitter expressly forbids selling usernames. In their name-squatting policy, they state, in very clear language that, “attempts to sell, buy, or solicit other forms of payment in exchange for usernames are also violations and may result in permanent account suspension.”

Still, one lucky kid will soon find himself the recipient of a trip of a lifetime, all because he happened to score a coveted Twitter username.
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Salman Rushdie Is Now On Twitter (Tweeting From @SalmanRushdie1)

Lauren Dugan — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 13:20:24 +0000

Here’s a perfect lesson in what can happen if you put social media off for too long: the man who won the Booker Prize for his political novel Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie, has had to settle for a verified account at @SalmanRushdie1.

The dry wit and intellectual heft you’d expect from Rushdie is all there on his sparkling new Twitter account, albeit in much shorter snippets than he, or his fans, are used to.
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TweetReach Now Has Free Accounts To Help You Measure How Far Your Tweet Traveled

Lauren Dugan — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 17:05:13 +0000

TweetReach wants to help you answer the question “How far did my tweet travel?” They enable users to determine the reach and exposure of any Twitter username, hashtag, URL or keyword phrase.

If you’re interested in monitoring a Twitter campaign, evaluating the “stickiness” of your tweets or just seeing how effective you are at tweeting, you will want to log on to TweetReach and experiment with their newly minted free accounts – perfect for dipping your toes into Twitter analytics.
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HOWTO: View All Of Your @Mentions, Minus The Retweets

Lauren Dugan — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 11:25:17 +0000

If you’re a prolific tweeter, you no doubt get dozens of retweets a day. And while that might boost your self-esteem, it can also cause a problem: since retweets usually include your username (at least old style retweets do), too many of them can mean actual @mentions get lost in the mix.

Here’s how to view all of your @mentions, but filter out the retweets, so you can focus on the accounts who are actually engaging you in conversations.
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3 Creative Ways To Get Your Perfect Twitter Name

Lauren Dugan — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:15:39 +0000

With well over 200 million accounts and growing by the day, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find the perfect username on Twitter. But there’s nothing wrong with getting a little creative! Here are three ways you can grab your ideal Twitter name, even if the one you want has been taken.
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What’s In A Name?

Shea Bennett — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:30:10 +0000

Usernames on Twitter, and the URL this gives you (http://twitter.com/username) are becoming almost as important as regular domain names. And finding one that is meaningful, aesthetically-pleasing and available can be quite a maddening process. (Aspiring rock stars will also have experienced this frustration when trying to find a band name that isn’t taken but doesn’t suck.)

When picking a username, there are a few things you need to consider:

If you’re already known to a large audience under a given name, that’s your best option on Twitter.
For individuals, certainly those who operate in a professional capacity, your best option is always your real, full name – i.e., sheabennett. And even if you don’t want to use that as your primary account (I use Sheamus), it pays to register it anyway to prevent identity theft. If your real name is taken, try a combination of your initials against your first, middle and surname.
If you’re a brand, it needs to be your brand name, or as close to it as possible without looking like it’s been forced.
When making a final decision, consider how is it going to look on your business card? Do you want @PeterWilson, or @ladyzman69?
It needs to be as short as possible. Why? Retweets. If your long username makes it awkward for people to retweet you without doing some major edit work then your retweet rate will suffer accordingly. I would propose that your username should be no longer than 12 characters if possible. (See this article for more on the importance of your number.)
Avoid gimmicky names. While ‘ilovemakinbacon’ might be funny to you now, in six months time when you’ve decided Twitter is a fantastic opportunity for you to bring new clients to your business, it might not seem quite as amusing.
That said, if your business is gimmicky, and your primary interest in Twitter is brand-promotion, then a gimmicky name can often pay off.
Don’t stress about rich keywords in your username. The search mechanisms for tracking people down via their username are poor and people are less and less impressed by words like ‘expert’ and ‘guru’ in titles (especially when coupled with SEO, search or social media).
Be mindful to avoid accidental euphemisms and double-meanings.
Underscores should only be used if nothing else is available.

Celebrities naturally can get away with pretty much anything. For the rest of us, it does require a little thought, especially if we’re looking to build a relevant and targeted audience.

Of course, it all depends on your expectations. If you’re 100 per cent confident that Twitter is never going to be anything more to you than a place to hang and chat with friends, then your username really isn’t all that important. Otherwise, think about the future – where might you be in six months or a year, and what part could Twitter play in that period of your life? And how may your choice of username impact on that?

The network continues to grow in popularity at a rapid rate.Â Twitter’s quite ridiculous policy of allowing anybody to change their username at any time* means these tips are applicable to everybody. In six months, almost all the good usernames will be gone, much like almost all the good .com domain names are taken now. If you regret your username, and feel that itÂ doesn’tÂ best represent who you are, act today.

To change your username – and while there are no limits, for the benefit of your network this isn’t something I advise you do more than once, so make it stick – click on ‘settings’, enter your new name in the box, and Twitter will tell you if it’s available. And then be smart and let people know. While there are many valid reasons why changing your username makes sense, without making an announcement you might find it’s alarmingly easy to disappear.

* It’s so ridiculous, that I would expect this option to have been phased out by the end of 2009.

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