Twitter plans to sell user names at auction, Mr. Mask said in the past that he wants to release 1.5 billion user names



Twitter has been shaken greatly by the acquisition by Mr. Elon Musk, and while cost cuts are progressing due

to mass dismissal of employees , earnings have deteriorated because advertisers are away from Twitter due to concerns about becoming a lawless zone. I'm here. Under such circumstances, the daily New York Times reported that Twitter is considering selling user names starting with '@' at auction as one of the measures to improve profitability.

Twitter Said to Consider Selling User Names to Boost Revenue - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/11/technology/twitter-user-names-elon-musk.html

Twitter Reportedly Considering Auction of Popular Usernames
https://gizmodo.com/twitter-popular-usernames-auction-elon-musk-revenue-1849976516

Twitter is considering selling usernames through online auctions, new report claims | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/11/twitter-selling-usernames-via-online-auctions

Under Mr. Mask, Twitter has come up with various measures to improve profitability, such as cutting costs by dismissing employees, renovating Twitter Blue , a paid subscription service, and planning to integrate with payment services . However, Twitter's advertising revenue continues to decline, and it has been repeatedly reported that it is facing severe earnings deterioration.

Twitter's Efforts to Court Advertisers Turns Them Off — The Information
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/twitters-efforts-to-court-advertisers-turns-them-off

Twitter employees have been discussing selling some usernames at auction since at least December 2022, according to two sources familiar with inside Twitter contacted by The New York Times.

A username is a unique string starting with ' @ ', such as ' @elonmusk ', ' @TwitterJP ', '@TwitterSupport'. Usernames differ for each account, so unique usernames with fewer characters are popular, and some usernames are secretly traded, and there have been cases of attacks targeting usernames . .

In addition, Twitter states in its Username Misappropriation Policy , ``Selling, buying, or otherwise attempting to obtain compensation in exchange for a username is a violation of our terms and may result in a permanent account suspension. ”, prohibiting the sale of user names.



Sources said it was unclear whether the username sales project would move forward and how many users it would affect. On the other hand, Mr. Mask tweeted in December 2022 that he would like to release the 1.5 billion usernames used for dormant accounts that have not been logged in or tweeted for several years.



Deletion of dormant accounts was also discussed in 2019, but at this time, ``Dormant accounts include accounts of people who have already passed away, and Twitter accounts that are valuable traces of their activities during their lifetime. It is a problem that is deleted.' Twitter has announced that it will not delete the account until it finds a way to protect the account of the deceased.

Twitter announces that it will not delete dormant accounts until it finds a way to protect the deceased's things - GIGAZINE



In addition, Twitter was not the first to consider an official auction for user names, and in November 2022, Telegram announced that it became possible to buy and sell user names in the form of '@~' on the dedicated platform 'Fragment'. . User name trading in Fragment is a specification that is carried out using the virtual currency “TON” that Telegram was involved in developing, and overseas media Gizmodo stated that Telegram has achieved a certain degree of economic success from username trading. I'm here.

in Web Service, Posted by log1h_ik