Twitter has more than its fair share of challenges and opportunities to address but one area it really needs to address is liberating usernames that have been collecting dust for a long time. There are too many useful and interesting usernames that have been sitting idle for months, if not years. Twitter needs a system that frees these usernames while still respecting the people who originally registered them.
There's no doubt this could be a tricky and complex topic to tackle but the fact is Twitter usernames shouldn't be squatted on like domain names. People don't pay for Twitter usernames so they're not an "asset" that someone owns.
Right now, the system to request a username that's already taken requires that you send an e-mail to [email protected]. This generates an automated e-mail response that includes the following information:
"Twitter is not currently releasing inactive user names. We're working on a better long term solution for this, and we should have more news soon."
Here's a suggestion. If someone hasn't used their Twitter account in six months, Twitter should send an e-mail letting them know that if there isn't any activity in the next two weeks, the username will be put back into the system. This would provide the Twitter user with an opportunity to re-activate their username, and I suspect many people would simply make a single tweet to maintain their good standing.
The tricky part happens when usernames go back into the system, particularly one that would be particularly attractive to corporate or marketers. Twitter needs to figure out a way to allocate these usernames that is fair and equitable. Rather than doing it on a first come, first serve basis, maybe Twitter holds a lottery in which everyone gets a shot at getting a particular name.
Maybe Twitter creates a "username registry" along the times of the domain registry that requires people to purchase a username for a period of time. Every year, a username has to be renewed or it goes back into the system. This may also give Twitter a way to generate some much-needed revenue. If Twitter charged $5/year, it would make about $500-million in revenue if all current Twitter users renewed their usernames.
The other advantage of a username domain system is it would also flush out the millions of inactive accounts that have been created for whatever reason but rarely or never used. Let's assume that 50% of all users fall into this category, it would still mean that Twitter would raise $250-million in fees.
In any event, Twitter needs to do something sooner rather than later.