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Q. I saw that you changed your Twitter ID and I want to change mine too. I want a different Twitter ID but I don’t want to start a new account from scratch, it’s too hard to get followers. Can you tell me how you did it? Did you lose Twitter followers? I’ve been wanting to change my Twitter ID but I’m afraid it will be really confusing to people.
A. I can understand why people want to change their Twitter ID’s. It’s easy to go wrong when you first choose a Twitter ID. Few people truly understand Twitter when they join, so they choose a name that isn’t a good fit. People can go wrong by choosing a silly name, a name that’s too long (you only have 140 characters for a tweet, so a shorter ID is better), a personal name that gets changed, or a personal account that gets changed into a business account.
My Experience
Earlier this year, I decided to change my Twitter ID from @carpathia16 to @wonderoftech, since I use Twitter mostly to tweet about technology and blogging. Others had strongly suggested that I do this after I started this blog, but I didn’t want to lose any followers, so I resisted making this change for a while. In February I read Kris Olin’s blog post How To Change Your Twitter Username Handle And Rebrand Your Account which convinced me to go ahead and change my Twitter ID.
Once I took the plunge, I didn’t lose any followers. In fact, I increased the number of followers, showing it was a good move that I should have done earlier. I have kept the @carpathia16 ID for later when I might use it for more personal tweets.
Switching the names was easier than I thought it would be. Accounts I had linked to my @carpathia16 ID, such as HootSuite and Buffer, were automatically switched to @wonderoftech without me having to make any changes.
How To Change Your Twitter Name
First, make sure the Twitter ID you want to use is available. Sign up for a new account with the ID you want to use (don’t worry, you can delete this account later). Second, follow this step-by-step guide from Twitter to switch names: Username is in use by another Twitter account that you own.
[note] Note that during the switch there will be a window of time where the ID you want to use becomes free for others to grab. Make sure you start this process when you can work on it quickly and without interruption so that window is as short as possible. [/note]
What Not To Do
If you already have a second Twitter account with an ID you want to use, don’t cancel that account to free up the ID. Canceling the account doesn’t make that ID available for a while, which will delay the switch. Also, you may miss the name eventually becoming available, potentially allowing someone else to grab it before you do.
Spread the News
After you make the change, spread the word by tweeting it repeatedly and change your Twitter profile to say that your account was “formerly @WorstTwitterNameEver”. You should also spread the news on Facebook, Google+ and any other social media sites where you are active.
To avoid confusion, I purposely haven’t posted from @carpathia16 since I made the switch. I tweeted out the change repeatedly when it took place and monitored the @carpathia16 account to see if people were still using that name. I gently reminded people about the switch when they used @carpathia16 instead of @wonderoftech, but that only was needed for a few days (my Twitter followers are exceptionally brilliant!).
Bottom Line
If you’re not happy with your Twitter ID, don’t worry, you can change it. No need to be stuck with a name that isn’t a good fit. Don’t start over with a new account, just change your Twitter ID to one that works for you. In a short your followers should catch on and adjust to your new ID.
Have you ever considered changing your Twitter ID? Are you happy with the Twitter ID you have? Have you ever changed your Twitter ID? Let us know in the Comments section below!
Update
Many of the comments have been from people wanting to change their Twitter names to a name that was already taken. If a Twitter name is taken, but the account is inactive, all is not lost. You may want to consider switching to it if the desired name becomes available. Check out this article explaining How to Secure an Unused Twitter Account. You may be able to grab that Twitter ID you covet!
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A Bit of Twitter Fun!
If you’ve ever wanted to analyze your Twitter account, you can do it easily and for free with a fun infographic. Adrienne Smith recently had a blog post about how to create your own Twitter infographic and I wanted to share with you how to do this.
Head to visual.ly, set up an account and click on Twitterize Yourself! Log in with your Twitter ID and let visual.ly do the rest!
You can share your Twitter infographic with others with a link you can use in a tweet, email, Facebook or other places.
Here is mine:
For some reason the middle section doesn’t provide information for my Twitter account, but I checked it with other Twitter accounts and it seems to work just fine.
You can also compare your Twitter account with others to see how you stack up. Check Faceoff and enter your Twitter ID and the ID of the person you want to compare your You can also have a Twitter Faceoff with a random celebrity by leaving the other Twitter ID blank. Here are links to Me vs. Random Celebrity and Me vs. Justin Beiber.
Have you created a Twitter infographic? Have you compared your Twitter account to a random celebrity? To Justin Bieber? Let us know and leave a link (if you dare) in the Comments section below!
*Birds image (altered) by Mark Morgan.
I switched my ID and have been reluctant to send out that little reminder! But, I’ll do it soon. What about Livefyre? All of my info is updated there, but sometimes doesn’t link to comments on some blog posts that I visit that use Livefyre. It’s a great tool. Can’t figure out what’s wrong!!
Thanks, Carolyn!
Hi Betsy, Yes, you should definitely send out a reminder. People need to know what’s going on so they don’t get confused.
I haven’t had a problem with Livefyre, but they’re great with customer service. Perhaps you could drop them a line and ask for their help with your issue.
Have a great weekend, Betsy! 🙂
Great info Carolyn!
Just like the question asked, I too have often wondered how people get around changing their Twitter ID’s without really affecting their followers, and here’s the answer 🙂
You are so right about mentioning how we all join Twitter without really knowing how to go about things, which we learn much later. And for those times, such wonderful posts need to be bookmarked!! ( I just did :))
I just have one Twitter account because I have two very different blogs, so this takes care of both. However, I feel once the writing blog takes up again, I too might have to create a separate one for both of them. So far, I am happy with just handling one 🙂
But I surely have taken note of all that you said for future reference, whenever the need arises, and I know who I can turn to for help as well.
Thanks for sharing yet another wonderful piece of information with all of us. And wishing you a very Happy Father’s Day (in advance) 🙂
Hi Harleena, Yes, very few people understand Twitter when they first start so they pick names the end up regretting at some point. It’s easier to change a Twitter name than many people realize and I was getting so many questions about this that I knew I needed to share the answer with Wonder of Tech readers.
Happy Father’s Day to you and your amazing father, Harleena! 😀
Well I learned something new today Carolyn. I didn’t realize you could change your existing Twitter name. Of course I don’t intent to change mine but unfortunately when I first came online five years ago my name was already taken so I had to add something on the end. Go figure, guess I should have used my maiden name. That would have made me one of a kind.
Great tip and I’ll be sure to share this post today with my friends. I’m sure some of them aren’t aware of this either.
Thanks for giving me a shout out with the fun infographic. I think they are kind of cool.
Enjoy your day and have a great weekend.
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne, Yes, I was going to use you as one of the celebrities in the Twitter Faceoff, but we overlapped too much with our tech topics! 😀
Wonder of Tech was not even an idea of mine when I first started with Twitter 3 1/2 years ago. When I started the blog, I had a lot of people tell me I should change my ID, but I was scared of losing followers. Also, my Twitter name @carpathia16 was mentioned in David Pogue’s book The World According to Twitter, http://www.amazon.com/World-According-Twitter-David-Pogue/dp/B003F76IH4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339784979&sr=8-1&keywords=pogue+twitter so I didn’t want to give up that claim to fame. But the more I used Twitter for my blog, the more it seemed silly to keep my old Twitter name.
I’m very glad I switched!
The name @adriennesmith doesn’t seem to be an active account. You may want to consider switching to it if it becomes available. Here’s an article explaining How to Secure an Unused Twitter Account: http://www.twitip.com/how-to-secure-unused-twitter-accounts/ You could grab the account and then switch names as I’ve spelled out above. Just a thought! 🙂
Thanks so much for all of that Carolyn, I appreciate it.
Yeah, my name has been taken by someone else although they aren’t using it with a website, blog or any social accounts. I get an email every so often with them trying to sell it to me for like $350. They should have thought about that before my .net got so popular. Would be nice to have but I don’t want it that bad. 🙂
I don’t blame you for not wanting to pay up. But if they’re not using the Twitter account they’re going to lose the name. You may be able to get it without paying anything.
Maybe if they realize that no one wants to pay they’ll let go of the web site name?
I’ll see what I can’t do about the Twitter name at least but they’ve been holding on to the .com for over five years now. I guess if they want to keep renewing it hoping one of us will give in that’s their business. I’m not giving in. lol..
thanks for the information i really want to make some change in my twitter id. u instruction will really helpful i will definitely follow thanks for sharing this information regarding twitter id.
Hi SEO Sydney, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech. You’re very welcome. Good luck, I hope the switch goes well for you! 🙂
Hi Adrienne, I don’t blame you a bit. You’re doing fine without it!
Hi Carolyn – The right post I wanted at the right time. From a while, I have been thinking of changing my twitter id to something related to my blog. I created my existing profile before I even started the blog, and hence has my name as the id – @brpraveen.
Now, I wanted to ask you, is it really necessary to create a new profile with a new id and then make the switch? Can i just not modify my twitter id in my existing profile? I think I will do this over the weekend.
Hi Praveen, Yes, you could do it that way, but I like to make sure the name is available and grab it before anyone else does. The quickest way to do that is to open a new account with the name. Then you can take the steps to switch them.
Do let us know if you switch names so we can be sure to help you spread the word! 🙂
Happy Father’s Day, Praveen!
I shall surely let you know if I do change it, I could personally use all the promotions that can come my way 🙂
Thanks for the wishes and hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Hi Praveen, Yes, we all can. I actually planned to do this article sooner to help spread the word, but it was so easy I forgot about the topic. Then I started getting questions about it so I decided to write about it. I’m glad this topic seems to be helping people! 🙂
Hi, Carolyn, more useful information and it will go right into my tech folder to join your other posts – thank you so much. I have three twitter accounts but I only use @late_bloomers as I am quite happy with it.
And of course, I went to twitter to check “my brilliance”, was I glad to see that I had changed to @wonderoftech!
A lovely and sunny weekend to you, I am going to do a market (just made 10 litres of ice tea) and look forward to it very much.
Hi Barbara, I love the name Late Bloomers as my mother always predicted that I would be one (she was right!).
If you ever decide you don’t want the _ underscore between Late and Bloomers, you could switch your Twitter ID to @latebloomers, freeing up a character. The @latebloomers account does not appear to be active.
Thanks for your kind wishes, Barbara. I hope you have a lovely and sunny weekend as well! 😀
I love Late Bloomers too and in a way we are all late bloomers, are we not? I carried this name around with me for more than 20 years (I once designed a fashion collection with that name but it got never produced, who knows, I might live up to the name in more than one area).
Thank you so much for your suggestion, I was jumping up and down with glee but alas when I checked it: NADA, it is still taken.
Never mind, I am happy the way it is.
If the account is inactive, you still might be able to get the name. Here’s an article explaining How to Secure an Unused Twitter Account: http://www.twitip.com/how-to-secure-unused-twitter-accounts/ You could grab the account and then switch names if you want to!
Hi Carolyn,
I remember when you changed your twitter id, and I actually thought about what you did (and a little about why you did it). It seems kind of hard to spread the word about your new Twitter id to all of your followers, but on the other hand, we hardly have a conversation with all anyway. What’s important is that we’ll still have all of our followers after the switch.
Great tips. Happy Friday 🙂
Hi Jens, Yes, it wasn’t that long ago that I was known in the Twitterverse as @carpathia16. I kept tweeting out the news for a few days until there was no more confusion and that seemed to work well. Once the mentions of @carpathia16 stopped, I stopped tweeting the news.
You are all set with your Twitter ID. It works, it’s easy to remember and it’s short. You figured it all out from the beginning! :-bd
Hi Carolyn,
Great, as you know I was looking forward for this post. I will follow the link you mentioned here as soon as I get home today.
In my case, the name that I want to use as my main Twitter is @SylvianeNuccio instead of @Sylviane101, but I already have SylvianeNuccio, just want to get rid of Sylviane101 and want the later show on the platform of SylvianeNuccio. Does that make sense?
Hopefully I will be able to follow the step and success in getting rid of the platform of @SylvianeNuccio and bring that ID to Sylviane101 🙂 Boy, I with I had know that 3 years ago 🙂
Hi Sylviane, Yes, that makes perfect sense because that’s just what I did with my Twitter names! You should have no problems making the switch. Just be sure to let people know. Your names are so close, I don’t think anyone will be confused.
Make sure to follow the account with your old Twitter name to make sure that people mention the proper account when they tweet about you.
Good luck with the switch, Sylviane! 🙂
Hey!!!! Thanks Carolyn, I was able to make the switch!!!
Congratulations, Sylviane. That’s great news! Thanks for letting us know. 🙂
I didn’t know you can change your twitter ID! I think I might be changing mine soon…
Hi Craig, If you change your Twitter ID, let us know here to help spread the word. Good luck with it! 🙂
Hi Carolyn,
This is a very useful post . I have my current twitter id as “blogaks” but I also claimed my name on twitter with another mail id . When I start using it one day, I will definitely want my current followers to move over there. However for the time being I plan to stick with the current handle.
I think one lesson for us to claim our name as handle as quickly as possible. That would save us a lot of pain later on.
Thanks for all the great info 🙂
Hi Ashvini, You’re very smart to grab your name as your Twitter ID. You will be able to use it later should you ever decide to switch your ID’s. Just be sure to spread the news!
I was lucky, a Wonder of Tech reader advised me to grab Wonder of Tech for Twitter and Facebook right when I started the blog. I wasn’t thinking that far ahead, but someone else was for me!
This is helpful Carolyn – but I have a trickier question. How do you change your Facebook Fanpage name? I think it’s impossible to do without losing all of your ‘likes’…but if you know a way, I’d love to hear it!
Hi Ruth, If you have >200 Likes, you cannot change your Facebook Fan Page name. If you have fewer than 200 Likes, you can change the name of your Facebook Fan Page. Here is the link showing you how to do it: https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=271607792873806
This is a helpful tutorial, Carolyn. Thanks.
Wouldn’t it be so much easier if you could pay Twitter $100 and they change our username (ID) to an available ID? I bet Twitter would make a little money too.
Hi Stan, What fun would that be? Certainly you revel in the challenge of doing it yourself, right? 😀
Yes, that is a great idea for Twitter to monetize. In fact, they have been looking for ways to do just that. Perhaps you should suggest your idea to them?
I wanted to change my Twitter ID last year, but I didn’t know how to do it that is why I’ve created another Twitter account and now I’m running 2 Twitter ID’s (one with my blog name and second with my own name).
BTW this is really useful tutorial. Thanks for sharing it Carolyn.
Hi Ehsan, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! That’s very similar to what happened to me. It’s great you already have the name you want to use secured, Ehsan. Now all you have to do is switch ID’s which isn’t very hard at all.
Good luck with the switch, Ehsan! After you have made the switch, let us know so we can help spread the word!
Thanks, I will definitely have one new one with the defined steps.
Hi Asher, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I am very glad this post was helpful to you. Good luck with your new Twitter ID. 🙂
thanks for this tremendous tutorial. This is definitely a great guide for us bloggers that change our domains then we need to change our twitter Id.
Hi Fazal, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! You’re right, if you change your domain name, you probably need to change your Twitter ID as well. I hope your switch goes well for you! 🙂
Wonderful, easy to follow post Carolyn. I’m not looking to change my Twitter ID at the moment but I know that this would be very valuable info to someone who wants to accomplish this. I’ve shared it where I could and now I’m off to read Adrienne’s post on creating that infographic. That could be fun!
Hi Sherryl, Not everyone needs this information right away but who knows? Someday we might all need it. I’m glad you’re satisfied with your Twitter ID, it makes life easier!
Thanks for stopping by, Sherryl! 🙂
It’s a great tool.I have often wondered how people get around changing their Twitter ID’s without really affecting their followers, and here’s the answer. I appreciate your post.Thank you so much for this! I will surely read this and share this to my other friends.
Hi Bharat, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I am so glad you found this post helpful. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with us!