Your name should be your Twitter handle

2010.06.17

in Best Practices,Professional

I have a friend and colleague who is debating whether or not to change her Twitter handle. Right now she’s @Postgrad. She likes the name. She’s gotten attached to it. She feels it says something about her. I think she should change it to her name, Meg Crawford, or some available variation.

Why?

Because that way people will know what her name is.

I follow more than 1,100 people on Twitter. Some use their names, some use something else. I just heard @unmarketing on Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separation podcast this morning. I follow him on Twitter and he shares great information. He has more than 57,000 Twitter followers.

I have no idea what his name is.

Clearly his Twitter strategy is working for him, and he may have reasons for wanting to brand “Unmarketing” instead of his name. Is @Mashable really Pete Cashmore, or is it Mashable, the online tech news site? We already know that @GuyKawasaki isn’t just Guy Kawasaki, it’s a network of people that share information for, essentially, the Guy Kawasaki brand.

I met Wayne Sutton close to two years ago. I never had a moment’s trouble remembering Wayne’s name, and that’s no mean feat for a 44-year old brain that is constantly bombarded with information, noise and toddler.

Why didn’t I have trouble remembering Wayne’s name? Because his Twitter handle is @WayneSutton.

The question you need to ask yourself is, “What is the brand I am promoting on Twitter?” For most of the people I know, the answer to that question is, “Me.” Even if you’re tweeting on behalf of a company or organization, you’re trying to establish your credibility. Your value. Your brand.

If your name is your brand, make it your Twitter handle.

photo by quinn anya

Tagged as: branding, guy kawasaki, pete cashmore, social media, Twitter, unmarketing, wayne sutton

  • http://twitter.com/ccowperthwaite Chris Cowperthwaite

    I fully support this. Unfortunately, I know from experience.

    To many of my friends, I'm Chris Cowperthwaite. To an entire other segment I respond to a ridiculous handle. 8 years ago, I started posting on a messageboard for my friends' band (using the first email address assigned to me by the University of Florida as my username). Said band has been relatively successful since then, and now has a flourishing online community that refuses to call me anything other than that first username. I have to sheepishly explain to family and friends why people are calling me such a bizarre name in person.

  • http://dbthomas.com David B. Thomas

    You really can't say that without telling us what the name is.

  • http://squarejawmedia.com/ Brian McDonald

    Dave, your post really resonates with me. I find myself identifying people by their twitter handle when it differs from their name. I had the challenge of finding a handle since my name is so common. I've used my handle bmcd67 for email and kept using it for social networks since it was easy for me to remember. However now I find it dating myself to some degree and generic. Yet I know I cannot get bmcdonald or brianmcdonald or even bmcd as they are all gobbled up. I'm less likely to use any nicknames since most of them are from high school and college and are not flattering nor professional.

    So I guess i'm stuck with bmcd67!

  • Valerie

    Ah, but if your name is more than 20 characters, then what? I'm torn between removing the vowels or truncating. Truncating, of course, sounding like more fun.

  • http://twitter.com/jakespotter Jake Potter

    I agree! (If you couldn't tell.) This creeps into “anonymous commenting” territory for some, which is a huge issue in its own right. But from a branding standpoint, establishing a motif can be a great thing.

  • janetkennedy

    The mystery of the 93: I am in the same boat as Brian. Just started using my e-mail handle since variations of Janet Kennedy were not available. Plus there is always the mystery of “what does 93 stand for”? I am REALLY hoping people assume that's when I graduated from college but that may be wishful thinking. In actual fact, I was the 93rd jkennedy to request an e-mail address from Comcast. How sad is that?

  • http://www.theantisocialmedia.com/ Jay Dolan

    I don't really care what name people use on Twitter. I realize there are millions of people, and not everyone can have their exact name. I'd care more about what you're writing and putting up on Twitter, rather than what your name is. It also helps I'm pretty good with real names.

    Also, I only chose @JayDolan by luck. When I joined Twitter in 2007, I saw a lot of other people using their real name as their handle, so I said “Why Not?”

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  • http://twitter.com/lisaweitekamp Lisa Weitekamp

    What if your last name is complicated? My last name is Weitekamp for example, and most people can hardly pronounce it much less spell it. It's tough for those whose names are long and/or difficult to spell!

  • http://dbthomas.com David B. Thomas

    You'll just have to work so hard to brand bmcd67 that we'll forget you even have another name.

  • http://dbthomas.com David B. Thomas

    Ooh, never thought of that. Truncating does sound like fun. Taking out all the vowels might make people think you're Welsh.

  • http://dbthomas.com David B. Thomas

    Yes, but at least people will know you're a Janet Kennedy. Or maybe you could be thejanetkennedy.

  • http://dbthomas.com David B. Thomas

    I guess you have a trade off. If you go with LisaWeitekamp, people will associate your tweets with you and remember your name, but when they want to DM or @ reply you, they might spell it wrong. Luckily a lot of the Twitter platforms will suggest names of your followers when you start to type, so that makes it a bit easier.

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