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Twitter goldrush on the way. Old usernames to be released
Twitter tells us it is planning to release all of its old, neglected usernames from inactive accounts for others to grab – and some of them are bound to be in big demand.
Many early users of the service picked up short usernames (first names and catchy short words) but since then have decided to abandon them. Unfortunately, they’re kept under lock-and-key by Twitter. There’s virtually no way to get hold of a previously owned Twitter name that you really want.
Twitter’s current policy states that “An account is considered inactive if it hasn’t been logged into or updated in over 6 months. Inactive accounts may be automatically removed from Twitter. To keep your account active, be sure to log in and post an update within 6 months of your last update.”
In actual fact, unused accounts aren’t deleted. Unless an account has breached Terms of Service (for example by sending spam messages) it sits idle and unloved.
Backdoor routes to your ideal username
As covered by our Editor-in-Chief, Zee a year ago, there used to be a ’semi-official’ way to grab a username by simply contacting Twitter with the details of the inactive username that you wanted to take. Maybe in part thanks to the demand generated by that post, the service was discontinued.
Now, the only time Twitter will transfer ownership of a username to you is if you own a trademark relating to the name. Back on my old blog 14sandwiches I covered the story of how the BBC got control of the @BBCNews name from someone who misused it.
Besides that the only way to get Twitter to give you a username is if you know the right people. Journalist and podcaster Ewan Spence managed to switch from @EwanSpence to @Ewan by, as he wittily put it, “hanging around the internet till I used the irl.api and bumped into the right person at Las Vegas”.
A official solution is on the way
We reached out to Twitter for comment on this matter and a spokesperson for the company told me that the company plans to release all inactive usernames and deleted usernames in the future but doesn’t have a date set yet.
If you’ve got your eyes on an inactive username, sit tight and get ready to pounce when Twitter flicks the switch. There’s likely to be race for the really hot ones. You may still be waiting some time but we’ll let you know if we hear any more news about exactly when this might happen.
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Discussion - 99 Comments/Pingbacks RSS feed for comments on this post
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Good reporting Martin. Now what are some good usernames likely to be available?
MK seems available.
Interesting that Disqus has been implemented btw!
Thanks Marshall – first names, short catchy names and the like will, I imagine be in big demand.
A quick check revealed @power for example. I'm sure someone will want that.
Yeah – Should have sorted out your commenting woes.
Any indication of when this will be carried out?
No, sorry Carlos. They didn't say.
Does anyone know how you would find the names that are available?
Awesome, awesome, awesome.
Richard – no idea how it will be done yet. We'll have to wait and see.
Thank you, I have been waiting to get my name for months. Glad that twitter is going to be doing something about inactive accounts!
That is why I originally created http://www.tweexchange.com and then sold it. It was perfect for being notified of these names.
This was a great idea and wished it had been developed further!
Oh, good, maybe I can get my name now.
I managed to obtain @dopodomani simply by pointing out to Twitter that it had not been tweeted on for 1.5 years, and only 1 tweet then. Took three tries and I explained a desire toward future trademarking. Was immediately released thereafter.
This news isn't really anything new. The big question here is WHEN will this happen, as what you've reported here has actually been Twitter's policy since they discontinued the “ask and we'll release” deal (which it has been months since then). I've personally had my eye on one handle in particular for what seems like forever, just waiting on the day.
Oh, and the “new relaunch” of tweexchange is questionable, at best. They claim to be able to gain access to handles that have been suspended after a 60 day period (for a $5 fee). I don't know where they're getting the 60 day number, but I got no response when I contacted them and called them out on this going against Twitter's current “official response” to suspended and inactive usernames. Sounds like a fraud to me.
Twitter could use this in another way to… Auction out the inactive accounts that looks interresting and give the money to for example Haiti..
uhmm no hay version en español??
This is interesting news, especially for a link building company like myself. A lot of our clients want to get usernames for certain keywords but they are always taken up. Much like the rush for Facebook vanity URLs I have a feeling this will take off with the same momentum. Hope it happens soon and with advance warning!
Great idea…look forward to this being available!
Twitter does not release names that are trademark violations. I've been trying to get them to do that for over a year now, with no luck. If anyone knows a good contact at Twitter for that let me know, but the answer I've gotten so far is, “no.”
Interesting. Thanks for the update!
We quickly built something for that yesterday:
http://thenextweb.com/apps/2010/01/20/notified-...
So far more than 1200 people have signed up to be notified. A lot of demand for it apparently.
It gives me an error now and doesn't seem to offer notifications for Twitter usernames. We quickly built something for that yesterday:
http://thenextweb.com/apps/2010/01/20/notified-...
The fact that a Twitter name is the same as your company name does not make it a trademark violation, unless the Twitter account is being used in such a fashion that is likely to lead to someone mistaking the account as representing your business (e.g. they've put you logo on their profile page, say). There are plenty of businesses in different fields that have the same name; that isn't trademark violation.
I agree. This blog post claims to report news but this has been the situation for a long time, Twitter has already reported this elsewhere, and they have given no indication of a date it will actually happen, so this isn't news at all.
Yes, I understand what a trademark is and what constitutes a violation. I think if my company is in the travel business and someone is using my company's name on their Twitter account that talks about travel, travel services, and travel deals, that would be a violation. Ditto for the company's blogs names that are used by others as Twitter user names.
I'll be waiting! There is one I actually do want.
“A official solution is on the way”
Good sub-heading.
good ~maybe i am doing now
I'll be waiting! Thanks for the tip.
Just spotted this Twitter username tracking service by the peeps at TwitterCounter: http://twittercounter.com/pages/username_alert — could come in very handy for folks waiting for a specific username!
But has anyone actually succeeded in obtaining a released name using the TwitterCounter username alert service ? I haven’t nor do I know of anyone who has…
Lots of talk.. but until there is a date, is all this useful?
http://twitter.com/islamtribune
http://twitter.com/islamtribune
cant wait to get twat on twitter
awesome there is lots of talking about it
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This is good news, I’d like to try to get a trademarked name. Any updates on this post? Have they already released old accts? Thanks