Matthias: blog
Das Logfile über mein Leben im Netz.

Twitter recycles usernames Freitag, 23. Juli 2010, 11:46:57

A while ago (I think it was in May 2010) I deleted my account @matthiasg on Twitter. But now someone else with that username is on Twitter: matthiasg.

This is strange, because when I deleted my account, Twitter stated:

Information from your deactivated account (username and email address) will be unavailable to use on a new account.

I guess they're running out of character combinations. No wonder: The Twitter username is limited to 15 characters. There are 26 letters in the alphabet. Numbers 0-9 are also allowed. And an underline. That's only 37 characters. Can someone do the math? How many usernames are possible?

I guess that means if someone closes a popular account, it's likely that someone else will try to grab it as soon as possible.

I closed my account @swisstweets (1400 followers) last month. I wonder how long it will take for someone to grab it. I just hope the new owner doesn't claim to be the original.