Little did I realize when I signed up for twitter that I was about to begin a whirlwind social media journey!
I also didn’t realize that with twitter having 140 character limit (of which we shouldn’t be using more than 120 anyways)… that a 15 character twitter username (@KimJCastleberry) was a LOT of characters to lose!
Every character of your twitter ID (username) digs into your 120 characters the moment you are retweeted! Suddenly the added “RT @KimJCastleberry costs almost 20 of my extremely precious characters! Oh no!
Of course, there is the internal struggle of keeping consistent naming conventions on all of your social media profiles. However, I’d already been building the “Ask Kim” element with both my “Ask Kimberly & Community” (free Facebook technical Q&A) and my Facebook Fan Page, which is at http://www.facebook.com/Ask.Kim So yay, I had something shorter to work with!
Of course, even with a shorter name to work with, I was scared of losing majority of my several-thousand follower base. So, after some research, here’s what I came up with to change your twitter name without losing followers!
Step 1: Change Your UserName
Go to Twitter (login) -> Settings (upper right). Click Settings and in the page that opens, in the USERNAME field, type in your desired new name. Twitter will give you feedback about the “taken” or “available” status of your desired name.
(In my case, I couldn’t get exactly what I wanted, but @Ask_KimC is pretty close!)
All follower’s are automagically updated to be following your new twitter name! How cool is that?
However…. You knew there was a gottcha, didn’t ya?
Step 2: Any client that you use to connect to Twitter with (in my case, I depend on and affiliate for 3: Hootsuite (client), Tweetspinner (management), Socialoomph (free keyword tracking and auto-DM)), needs to be logged into and have its login credentials changed.
In Hootsuite this means go into Settings -> Social Networks -> Edit (for the account you changed) -> Change and save. In Tweetspinner, log in, and in the upper right near your twitter name, under it, select “update (your) user/pass”. For SocialOomph which lacks a full edit feature, I simply deleted that old account and registered and authenticated the new one. Piece of cake.
(Also be sure to update any place you may have the old address in use such as social media buttons, cute profile buttons, listed on your facebook account, listed on your linkedin profile, etc.)
Step 3: Re-Register Your Old Twitter Name
The last thing you want is someone grabbing your old twitter name and pretending to be you. Two notes however: (1) This will require a seperate email address and (2) It can be a bit after changing your accounts name, before twitter will allow you to re-register the name, so don’t panic! (Which of course, I did, learning this the hard way!) Put a single tweet on it that says to join you at your new username, and put the same information in the accounts bio box.
Step 4: Breathe A Satisfied Sigh Of Satisfaction!
That’s all there is too it! With this method you wont lose any of your precious followers! Majority of the work is auto-updated on Twitter’s side, which is incredibly convenient! Always nice when companies make it so easy!
That’s all folks! Like it? Love it? Got Questions? Be sure to share it and drop me some feedback! I’d love to hear how it goes!
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Kimberly,
Cheers Toni
A little while back I changed my username on both twitter & facebook to marry in with my blog (tonisuggests) However there was one step I was not aware of until reading this post. I had never thought to re-register my old name….I shall get onto that. Thanks for sharing this very useful piece of information. We are so blessed to have you guiding us
Toni King´s last blog ..EFT
Thanks for the great reply Toni!
Kimberly Castleberry´s last blog ..Profit Being You Webinar
Wow, this is a very cool thing to know! You are incredible Kim! You really know your technical stuff! Thank you for always sharing with all of us! You are a gem!
Mahalo (thnnk you),
Kellie :0)
Kellie Hosaka´s last blog ..MY PRIVATE AND VERY PERSONAL ADDICTION TO FOOD
As always, very valuable information! Thanks @Ask_KimC!
I have a long name as well ~ but atm will continue to just deal with it. But if I change my mind down the road, I know where to head to ensure the transition is painless!
Beth Allen´s last blog ..Successful Weight Loss & Long Term Weight Management
Kimberly,
You always have such interesting tips to share from the personal experiences you encounter. Thanks for passing that along to all of those that need to consider implementing it. It’s always exciting to check in and see what’s new in your world and how you pass it along to the rest.
Thanks again for great tips.
Don Enck´s last blog ..Celebrate Your Victories…Even If They’re Silver
Kim,
This is great information – I think I will be sticking with my username but its always useful to know there is a way to do it which isnt too tricky.
Thanks for the great advice as always
Beth
Beth Hewitt´s last blog ..Successful Email Marketing.
A friend of mine wanted to change her twitter name but was so afraid of losing followers. Well, I’ll be sending this to her, I’m sure it’ll make her day. Yes, you gotta conserve that 140 characters, it’s really not much for your messages. Thanks for sharing!
Cherrie Bautista@Young And Fabulous´s last blog ..On Young And Fabulous: Your Limiting Beliefs
How do you always post exactly what I need to know at exactly the right time??
But with a name as long as mine, I’ve definitely hit this problem as I get more involved on Twitter …. but now, thanks to you, I know how to fix it!!
Jacqueline Gates´s last blog ..40 year olds doing Headstands
Thanks again Kimberly, for another get Social Media Tip – put into your famous easy steps, making it all so much easier for all of us !!!
Testing the back link thing with KeywordLuv – Cool, had not done that before.
Lori Thomas-The Hypnovator@Motivative Hypnotherapy´s last blog ..You can Sleep Better Naturally –
Great stuff Kim!
I’m glad that I didn’t stick with my original twitter username.
@justingloveristhecoolesttwitteruserintheworld was really hurting my abbility to get retweets.
Seriously though, great stuff. Thanks for your contribution!
Justin Glover´s last blog ..How To Make A “Free Report” In Under 15 Minutes…
Thanks Kimberly. This post came in a timely manner. I have a business client and I manager their twitter account. We recently changed their twitter account name, but we didn’t go back and reclaim the original name. Great advice (as always)!
John Damstra´s last blog ..Monetize Your Blog – A 5 Step Process Overview
Kim you never let one down when it comes to great tips and content! Thank you! You now have me thinking about the length of my twitter name and pondering if I should find something shorter? The best part is if I do decide to change it, I can follow your easy to understand advice and get it done in a snap, while still preserving my current name!
Thanks again Kim for making this so easy for all of us!
“Dream, Believe, Become…”
Tracey Keefer @ Free MLM Help´s last blog ..Dreams Create New Careers for the Unemployed!
Kimberly,
I always enjoy your informative posts to support us in managing our Social Media pages.
Thanks so much,
Val
Val Wilcox´s last blog ..Meet Malin Berdette, World Traveler Extraordinaire
Hey Kim I have been contemplating changing my twitter name to match my blog but thought I would have to start all over so I decided not to do that – and then I read your post! So now I am reconsidering – my twitter name now is janhill123, and somewhere someone said you shouldn’t use numbers in your “twitter handle” so thought I would change it to my blog name askjanhill – so decisions decisions! Thank you for forging ahead and doing this first! Great post.
Jan@social media rockstar´s last blog ..5 Ways Social Media will Grow your Dental Practice
Wow I didn’t even realize this was possible. At 14 characters, my twitter names feels a little selfish, but all my social media profiles are @garrettcanhelp… Gotta keep it!
Either way, thanks for sharing Kim!
Garrett
Garrett Miller @attraction marketing, network marketing´s last blog ..Network Marketing vs Internet Marketing vs Attraction Marketing: Rumble in the Home-Based Business Jungle
I know many people that have thought about doing this but had no idea how to go about it. They are afraid to lose their following, so they just open a second account. This is definitely a better way!
Jose H. Caraballo´s last blog ..Forget Your Why…Begin With Your Purpose!
Kim:
As always,your indepth knowledge is amazing!
Thanks for showing us a safe way to make Twitter changes and not lose any of our following.
Looking forward to your next words of wisdom!
Take care.
Linda.
Dr Linda Douglas´s last blog ..WHAT IS YOUR STORY and HOW WILL IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
Great information Kim! This is good to know and very helpful. Thanks for posting!!
Lisa M Arnold´s last blog ..BEFORE I WAS I MOM….
Hey Kim, I’ve been considering dropping the find off my user name just not sure I’m ready to let go yet. Glad you have shared this great post with so much helpful info. Always know where to turn for great tech guidance!
Kara Grabenhorst´s last blog ..Don’t like it? Change it NOW
These are all great tips, glad you wrote this and it’s going in my archive
This has been something that I have been thinking about doing for a while now. Thanks for the helpful tips!
Kevin M.´s last blog ..23 ways to know it’s going to be a really bad day
You have great timing as usual! This is awesome! I went through this (in a much more clumsy and hair-pulling fashion) a couple weeks ago and managed to break several things in the process. I appreciate your leadership.
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