Whether you are SassyChick76 or something more professional, the names we choose to represent us online say alot about us. For isntance, if managed to score your first name as a twitter handle, it says alot about you, as a status symbol, on the social network.
I just changed my twitter handle. I signed up for the service in early 2008…not exactly the earliest of adopters (although I recall when Leo Laporte was the twitterer), but certainly not a late-comer. I used the same email username I have used for years – caseyp80. BORING. But I wasn’t very sure of Twitter as a service, or of my intention to stick with it. I couldn’t certainly gotten a better name back in 08 than I could today. But nevertheless, I felt like it was time to ditch the name+number signature, and go with something slightly more descriptive.
Unfortunately, I settled on @thatgeekcasey. It was late. And I had typed in at least 40 different usernames that I preferred…and it at least seemed easy to remember, unlike 2nd Place Contestant: @Ctl_Alt_Casey.
Like I said . . . it was late.
Now with that out of the way, I’ve begun reconsidering all of the names that I use for services. Some are insignificant – but of particular interest is my email username. I may have stuck with CaseyP80 for years, but I can’t help but think there’s probably a better way to represent myself online.
I can’t tell you how many resumes I’ve received in the past with contact information containing email addresses like, “seniorsassypants@hotmail.com.” The names we use to present ourselves to people affect their perceptions of us. More online than anywhere else. As I’ve just discovered – this can be a serious problem if you’re attempted to create a name somewhere like Twitter or Gmail TODAY, and not years ago. Anything resembling a professional looking name is probably taken.
With email, we can change or create our own domain. But what of services like Twitter – once they reach critical mass, it’s nearly impossible to get any name you would hope to get. Clearly, there needs to be a better solution – but what would that look like? It’s an interesting question. A question whose answer will hopefully shape the usage of social networks in the future, and play into future updates of services we already use.
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