Twitter has begun considering selling usernames to generate revenue for the company. Twitter employees reportedly discussed selling some usernames last December and looked into the possibility of doing so through online auctions.
Unlike the displayed nickname, the username on Twitter is the content after the @ symbol, which is also a personal identifier on this platform, and the various operations are also performed around the username, not the display name.
We all know that Twitter accounts cannot be bought or sold. The relevant user agreements do not support the buying and selling of usernames so far, and as soon as this is discovered, the accounts are immediately suspended. It’s a pity that Twitter, which is short of cash, does not care more about this and makes the development of further revenue sources its top priority.
If Twitter wants to sell high-value usernames, it can not start with existing active users, only zombie accounts, which, by the way, can do the work of purging zombie accounts. To the false information on Twitter, the bot account has obviously contributed a great deal. So, from this point of view, selling usernames can not only increase revenue but also reduce the pressure on the server and fulfill Musk’s desire to reduce false information.
Twitter’s latest financial report, released at the end of July 2022, showed that revenue in the second quarter of last year was $1.18 billion, below analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion, and net loss was $270 million. The company posted a profit of $65.6 million, an adjusted loss of 8 cents per share after excluding items such as stock compensation, which was well below analysts’ expectations of a profit of 14 cents per share.
Musk noted that the company’s situation appeared to be quite different than he had expected. He even stated directly on Twitter that he was losing more than $4 million per day, which also triggered extensive layoffs at Twitter.
The current situation is that Musk is reshaping Twitter to his liking, but policy changes such as banning users from promoting other social media on the platform and eliminating the management of misinformation about the epidemic have led to user losses. According to market research firm Insider Intelligence, the platform could lose more than 30 million users over the next two years. Musk also had high hopes for Twitter Blue, which backfired and created distrust among advertisers.
What is even more deadly is undoubtedly the departure of large companies that paid for Twitter’s advertising business. According to incomplete statistics, half of the company’s top 100 advertisers have stopped advertising, and weekly advertising revenue in the US market is only 20% of what was expected. Many well-known companies such as General Motors, Audi, United Airlines, and Pfizer have announced that they will stop advertising on Twitter.
