Ever wish you could have one or two extra characters for a tweet? You could if some people shortened their username, aka their Twitter handle. The maximum length that a Twitter handle can be is 15 characters. The average length of a Twitter handle is typically 10 characters with the @ included so people in the 11-15 characters bracket could certainly consider cutting their username down.My Twitter handle used to be @mynameisdermot (15 characters!), but I have now changed it to @dfdonn (7 characters). My handle @mynameisdermot was created when I first signed up to Twitter and had very little knowledge of what Twitter involved or what a 'Twitter handle' was. Hence, I had no knowledge that my Twitter handle would eat into the 140 characters that someone else had to send me a tweet. My new Twitter handle might not be as distinctive as the previous, but it is definitely more considerate of those who tweet me, by a whole 8 characters that is!
So would you consider shortening your Twitter handle? Some people might have established Twitter handles, but a bit of change never hurt anyone. In fact, it could add a bit of lift to your account and give you something to talk about to your followers. Also, it gives your followers a few extra characters that they previously could have done with. So all in all, I think it would be a win/win situation for everybody on Twitter.
Despite my enthusiasm for such a change, it is important that if you do change your Twitter handle to not forget to update your Twitter handle on other websites you may have advertised it on, e.g., a blog, Facebook, etc. Just in case people start to wonder where you went.
What do you think? Should Twitter handles be shorter than 10 characters? If your Twitter handle is longer than 10 characters and you do not think it should be changed, why?
