Twitter users who have not accessed their account in a long time are encouraged to log in before December 11 or risk losing their handles.
Username availability is a growing problem in social media. Much like email before it, social media has now been around long enough that new users are increasingly struggling to find unclaimed handles. For example, if your name is John Smith, you cannot use @John or @JohnSmith or @TheJohnSmith on Twitter. You also probably can’t use @John_Smith, @JSmith, @J_Smith, or @The_John_Smith. Those names are already in use, and getting someone to surrender their handle is often an uphill battle that can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
Adding to the frustration is the fact that not all the usernames are in use. Someone claimed the name, but now the account sits dormant. Usernames that many would want, such as @AuxCord, sit unused on social media with abandoned accounts (or worse, accounts that never posted in the first place).
But a reckoning may be on the horizon. Twitter user Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) shared an email they received this week from the social media giant regarding an account he owns that has sat dormant for some time. In the email, Twitter informed Navarra he needed to agree to the company’s terms, privacy policy, and cookie use to continue using the platform. The letter also said they had until December 11, 2019, to access his dormant account. If Navarra failed to do so, they would risk losing their handle permanently.
Navarra, wanting to retain the dormant account, logged into Twitter using a link in the email and captured the prompts that appeared:
The decision to mass delete dormant accounts will open hundreds, if not thousands of desirable usernames to the public. Such a move would boost interest in the social media platform and likely lead to a rise in new accounts, not to mention increased engagement.
Twitter has not publicly commented on Navarra’s tweets or officially announced plans to remove dormant accounts. That said, the company is well within its rights to delete accounts that do not agree to Twitter’s new terms, privacy policy, and cookie use.
Readers hoping to claim a dormant account when they become available should consider using Handlescout. The service, which is free, tracks username availability on Twitter and sends email alerts when desired handles become available.
