How to change your Twitter username

I’m not considering a change of my Twitter account, as I’m using my surname all over the place and the only person it ever conflicts with is my brother.  But I’ve heard of people trying to rename their accounts or re-brand their activity on Twitter, so I think is article – How to change your Twitter username – is useful.

Here’s a synopsis:

  • create a new Twitter account with a @JunkName handle you don’t care about
  • change your @OldName account to @NewName, keeping your followers and tweet history intact (releasing your @OldName into the wild)
  • use the new Twitter account you made to quickly grab @OldName before anyone else has a chance to take it

One thing to note: Because of the way Twitter handles conversations, changing your username won’t retroactively change @mentions directed toward you from other people. This means that people you’ve conversed with will seemingly be talking to a ghost at @OldName instead of you at @NewName. Considering the “in-the-now” nature of Twitter this isn’t really a showstopper, just a mild inconvenience that’ll lessen over time.

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