COMMENTS
Easier said than done when you have Matt Sullivan as your name. Thousands of us out there. I feel the underscores at least give a more professional feel. There really isn't another route to go. It's either underscore, numbers, or change my legal name.
I read with interest since I'm trying to pick a twitter name. But my question is since I'm in real estate should I go with something like NLreal estate or my name larryhann. I plan on selling my business in the next few years so would a generic name be better for that reason. I appreciate the feedback.
Sounds more like a symptom than a cause. It stands to reason that people without underscores or numbers in their username joined Twitter before their underscored and numbered counterparts. So not only have they been on Twitter longer, which would give them a leg-up on number of followers, but they are the early adopters which are likely to use the service more extensively. I would venture to guess that the amount of time you've been on Twitter, the amount of tweets, and how interesting you are is going to have more of an effect on followers than any other measure.
Dan,
What would you suggest if you're making a twitter page for your company, and your company has a number/numbers in the name? Spell it out or keep as is?
Dan, does the grader look at quality as well as quantity? I don't want hundreds of followers, so surely its irrelevant whether I use a number or underscore. I want quality followers and follow quality (even you!) that as a network can add value. @graham_murphy
When I first signed up a year ago, I used a nick-name of mine that unfortunately was shared by 100s of other guys in the web field. Thankfully my real name was still available (with and without underscores) and I switched it. I also grabbed a couple common misspellings :-D
Makes a LOT of sense when you think about it. Typically early adopters have more followers and they likely chose their own name without any numbers or underscores. People coming late to the game have had to adapt. I got my name and an initial. Unfortunately @stuartfoster hasn't used Twitter since July of 08. Lame :(
The good thing is that you can go back and change Twitter name.
As early adopter I remember creating a name to test Twitter years ago. Recently I had to change it to something catchier related to the the industry I am in :)
It is not easy. It took me a while to come up with something that is available and is semi-decent :)
EduTek on Twitter
I think the reason for the big statistical difference in followers between the two groups is partly because of these ghost accounts that keep popping up. For example, I was repeatedly getting followed by "internetmarketer" but with different usernames everytime, usually something with a long string of numbers after it. Their profile had no pic, no bio, no reason for anybody to follow them.
I'm guessing this has something to do with it. After all, someone that carefully chooses a name without numbers is probably going to be more active in the Twitter community. Someone that is less creative, or is a ghost account, and just throws a number on at the end of their name is more likely to let the account sit idle.
I believe it fully depends on the user and how motivated they are to grow and engage their network. Do you really think Dan would have fewer followers if he had chosen @danzarrella33 instead of @danzarrella, all other things being equal?
I just registered to Twitter. I didn't use any number or underscore in my username. But I didn't use my real name too. Is it okay? I'm actually new to Twitter and just signed up because I've read it from a blog and got interested.
melay
You provide no evidence that there's a causal link between the two data points.
If you already have a Twitter account with an underscore in it, should it be changed?
I believe your data is accurate on a statistical level, but people that are charismatic or interesting can overcome the "odds" and accumulate tens of thousands of followers with underscores or numbers.
The name's @Bond_JamesBond - how else but with the underscore could I leave you with THE pause?
007 is my photo - does that leave you with a problem? :)
Speak to M if there's anything else
@Bond_JamesBond
007
Licence to Kill
@007 There's always an exception that proves that rule.
In planning for an upcoming event, I 'reserved' a twitter name. At the time I did not realize that someone had had that same name, but with an underscore between two of the letters. This person is very popular on Twitter, and has well over 300K followers. My account, with a similar name that has never been used, now has followers, receives @ messages, and direct messages, all because of this slight underscore difference. Some of these messages that I have received because of the missed underscore have been very personal and others related to business. So, even if you are not worried about followers, as some of the commenters said they weren't, it is still important to consider this when selecting a Twitter name.
Actually a reason not to do first name underscore last name is that it becomes difficult to RT a tweet when the username is too long...
I think you're confusing cause and effect here. It's misleading to assume that the underscore or number is the cause of a lower number of followers.
Rapidly-added accounts such as those used for spamming often use numbers and underscores - and these accounts by theor nature will attract few followers and slew the average.
Thanks Rick
I'll put in a good word for you with M :)
@Bond_JamesBond
specialist sKILLS
I agree with comments re: flawed analysis (@Sn1per, Brian). Another possible reason -- companies and other brands (products, publications, etc.) are less likely to use #'s or __'s and offen have huge followings.
I agree with a lot of the comments already made ... numbers and underscores are often used, as you say, when the preferred name is taken, aka the preferred name has been there longer. More time is more opportunity. I also agree with the point that numbers and underscores are a trend in users who are moving quickly (spammers) or are lazy (just checking it out, never coming back).
That said, anyone who hasn't should go register their @firstnamelastname because they are going faster than domain names ...
Dan - what about a different cut - instead of separating the two groups (no numbers, no underscores) make it NO NUMBERS AND NO UNDERSCORES as one group, versus the rest. I wonder if the difference would be even stronger?
Great comments everyone and a great post in general. Something I would mention to keep in mind is that you always want to maintain a consistent "brand" of yourself on the web. Meaning, when possible utilize the same username across various sites. It may be more important to you to keep an _ or # if that is how you are recognized elsewhere. Thoughts?
I have no problems my Twitter id has no numbers or underscores.
I think usernames should reflect
aims, goals, mindsets etc - 'n mean something that sticks in ppl's minds
I came to your website after finding out from feedjit a link visitor on twitter grader, wow am top 3 in Manila... so I got curious about your website and found out about webgrader so I made a post - pitching in as well for your product (well I 've listened to your podcast -webinar so i did as suggested), link here, it is a blog -
http://peterahon.blogspot.com/2009/04/hubspot-website-grader.html
hope you can come up with a separate blog grader.
well the personality grader is misnomer, maybe online personality grader and typing my same name (separate/ one word)produces different results. It has a good potential that ought to be developed.
Nice product, keep up the good work.
Mabuhay!
good wishes, pete
Ignore this bollocks, I've got numbers in my twitter moniker an I've got bloody 5 followers mate.
Could seasoning be a factor? I would be interested in seeing the figures for accounts of comparable age - for example <3 mo, < 6 mo, etc. Given the reason you cite in the post (basic string already in use), it seems likely that the underscored and numbered accounts will be newer than the plain counterparts.
Just a quick tip: If you're considering using an underscore in your name because you want the visual separation between two words, just use capitals! I publish my Twitter name as @ManifestPhil because it's easier to read than @manifestphil.
Either way, they'll still point to the same place.
I am doomed then having a twitter name of 66_99. But surely people follow you if you tweet about something interesting regardless of you name. I am sure that similar statistics could be drawn depending on gender , hair colour etc...
I have one of the most common names in the world, and even my nickname was taken when I signed up more than a year ago. So I ended up choosing a name consisting of 4 letters and 4 numbers. Probably a bad idea, but at this point, I'm not sure there is much else to do. I have more than 700 followers.
Correlation != Causation
Many bots generate usernames with numbers. Remove all bots, spammers and machine generated ones and I bet your numbers will be far closer to the same.
Additionally, many more 'noob' type internet users happen to put such characters in their usernames, and don't really command high followings. This isn't the fault of the numbers and underscores in the names, but of their behavior.
Interesting article. Thanks for sharing the twitter info.