Written by: RH
The search of Twitter handles becomes almost as crazy as the search for domains. Twitter names you would think are available to get are taken as frequently as domains you would think are free to register.
I am not talking about top keywords or geo names. There are so many people that sign up for Twitter even if they don't use it. So over the last year I have now had 3 potential sales on five letter .coms not go through. Two of the prospects assumed I had the Twitter handle and the last one just put in the email, "We are only interested in *****.com if you have the corresponding Twitter account."
All three Twitter accounts were active, and the deals just were not completed. Its funny sometimes I see short Twitter handles where the .com is available. So if you can get the Twitter handle for your top short .com domains it makes sense to get them. You never know if it prevents a possible sale. Again its not a must but might be good to have.
I could see this was likely going to happen a couple of years ago. It is especially true for Twitter but not so much for Facebook. With Twitter, the link to your page needs the username. Facebook only introduced usernames a year or two ago, so it is not so critical. Plus, a tweet you send out on Twitter can potentially be seen by everyone instantly. So I can see unique usernames on popular social networks becoming valuable over time. I have even heard of some username sales, though they are not supposed to be allowed.
Very good info…
Rohini Kumar
http://www.tabletworld.in
Were they bid sales ?
The same can be applied to Facebook handles. In fact there’s more opportunity for sites to have even more benefits with Facebook urls. One tip for any domain owner or online business having issues getting a twitter or FB handle. If your domain / company name isn’t something generic, apply for a TM. If you get awarded the TM, you can just take the Twitter handle from the current owner.