Yes, as of last night, I officially dropped the 2nd half of my Twitter username, and acquired the @jackie Twitter account.
I’m not saying this to brag (well, maybe a little), but rather to spread the word on how I acquired a dormant Twitter username, as a few folks had mentioned they had tried in the past and were unsuccessful. No promises it will work for everyone, but the least you can do is try, right?
I’ll begin with saying I have zero special connections at Twitter. I’d heard folks say that you needed to “know” someone in order to get anywhere, but that wasn’t true in this case.
Additionally, you probably need to make sure that the Twitter account that you want is, indeed dormant. If you’re trying to get one that is active, you probably have a better shot at changing your legal name, and then looking for that Twitter name.
Anyways, it’s nothing tricky (you don’t have to push up-up-right-right-A-A-B), you simply fill out the impersonation form on Twitter’s website.
I think you can handle it from there (sorry if you were looking for something a little more complicated). I received an e-mail one business day later asking for me to reply with whether I wanted my existing username transferred, or asking me to set-up a dummy account which could then be transferred to the desired username. In the end, two business days later I received an e-mail informing me that the transfer was successful.
Good luck getting that username you’ve had your eye on. If anyone else has been successful in acquiring a username using another method, please share in the comments!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, well done Jackie!
I’ve been trying to acquire a particular dormant username (last tweet from that account was nearly two years ago) for about a year. I’ve submitted my request to Twitter a few times but just get a stock email answer saying something along the lines of “…we’re currently unable to accommodate individual requests for inactive or suspended usernames.”
However I’ve never tried applying for the inactive username using the Twitter “Impersonation Form”. The guidelines state that I need to have a trademark for the username that I’m applying for, so I had never bothered.
Maybe I should try the “Impersonation Form” route. Can’t hurt, I suppose!
That’s cool you grabbed such a coveted handle. I had @karl when I first started on Twitter, and actually sold it to a friend. You should definitely blog more, I’d love to hear more of your thoughts.