When I joined Twitter, it wasn’t making the headlines it is today. But I immediately grasped the land grab that would be on the horizon for user names. It’s reminiscent of the URL grab of the early 90s. Remember when some genius college kid registered coke.com, and about 25 other mega brands to hold them for ransom? We now see this same phenom all over Twitter with locked profiles, bounced names and lots of “the REAL_______”, since their actual names have already been registered by an imposter.
I happen to agree with @ScottWilliams, that using your real name is the way to go. I was recently at a marketing meeting where several of the people said “yes, I’m on Twitter”, and I thought great! When I came back to the office, I could find none of them. Not by company, first or last name, not by email address. It was a mystery – if I can’t find you and I’m looking – why bother? If you’re using Twitter to engage on a personal level, and don’t want to be found, than by all means register as “@prettycrayons” and state your location as “everywhere”, and use a flower for your avatar.
Personally my “real name” (Maureen Birdsall) was too long to grab. So I registered @birdsall since @maureen was already taken. My company name (Birdsall Interactive) was also too long, so you can follow the creative company tweets of our team @designfrenzy – which we all contribute to. If you go there, you’ll see it’s clearly branded for my company.
10 Reasons Why You Should Use Your Real Name On Twitter
(by by Scott Williams of Big Is The New Small. Follow him @ScottWilliams)
- It will be simple and easy to locate you in the “Find People” search tool on Twitter homepage; Remember “KISS” – Keep It Simple Stupid.
- Similar to the dot.com boom, you don’t want to miss the squatters right to your entitled property, I mean your entitled Twitter name.
- You don’t want to be like a friend of mine whose name was secured by a pornstar w/ the same name.
- Once Twitter becomes totally mainstream and a household name; you want to make sure your real name is part of the Twousehold.
- No one really understands your attemptedly cool names like: @mrbigshotguru @livingforchangetoday @johniscool @itweetabunch @MrsMrsexymama…
- If someone is trying to follow your business’ tweets and you have some obscure name, you’ll miss an opportunity to have a virally connected customer.
- It’s easier for people to retweet you, mention you and make reference to connecting with you.
- You don’t want to find yourself saying coulda, shoulda, woulda… but I never dida!
- The President of The United States @BarackObama uses his real name!
- It’s practical and it just makes good Twense!
Right now is the land grab for Twitter @names. Don’t miss out. Open some hotmail accounts, and register the names that will help you & your clients secure a nest.
Want to see where your name is still available? Check availability here, on namechk.com
Recently, some people who have never been willing to leave me alone after a bad parting, managed to track me down again despite my attempts to avoid connecting my name and “junk” email address. My Twitter name and blog name matched, but I just had to start all over again with email, blog name, and Twitter name. I’ll never be able to use my real name online. But businesses should be wiser by now than they are, after 15 years of global web interactivity. It’s become an organic process, but they still see it as somehow separate or merely an “add-on” to what they consider their “real” challenges. That has to change if they want to be taken seriously.
I have spent nearly 19 years on the Internet and have been very careful to make sure My real name is hardly any where to be found. Yes I am paranoid and for good reason. Most of my internet connections through the years know me as Beamer and that is good enough for me. Last thing I want on twitter is my actual name. No Thanks.
Beamer
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[...] avatar is your passport to the online social world. When others see your name (mine is typically birdsall when it’s available), they make an instant connection. I connect my user name with the same [...]
i really love to use Twitter. i was addicted to Blogging before the birth of Twitter. Now i am addicted to Twitter.
i just love Twittering compared to blogging. i was a blog addict and now i am a Twitter addict.
Twitter is the newest craze today. i tweet at least 5 times a day on my friends just to keep them informed about my whereabouts. I still keep my personal blog though.
i just love to Twitter everyday with my friends. Twitter is much better than blogging in my opinion and it is very addictive too.