On @Usernames

Usernames: they are like gold in this vast land of internet accounts. Some people, likely some of the ones who are reading this piece, are the ones that sign up for every little service that pops up on the web just to get a certian username. Heck, even I am one of those people; I signed up here on Svbtle just so I could reserve the username “Edwin”.

I signed up for Instagram way back when they were just starting out and got the same @Edwin username there. (Although, this was admittedly by accident; I thought “I wonder if @Edwin is available?” and, to my advantage, it sure was.) I wish I would have been smart enough, or, I guess, quick enough when I signed up for Twitter way back when. Though, in case you are wondering, I wouldn’t have been able to get @Edwin anyway: the user that has that handle has owned it since 2006, whereas I signed up in 2008.

That’s not to say these “vanity” usernames don’t come at a cost. I’m starting to see it more and more with some of the people I follow on various outlets. Average users (as in non-techy/geeky/nerdy people) misuse usernames, such as when someone tags a friend in a photo on Instagram and that friend’s first name happens to be Edwin. I’m not sure if they don’t pay attention to the actual person’s username they are trying to tag, or if it is a over-estimation of what the app will do for them (perhaps they think the app is smart enough to tag their friend instead of someone who is not their friend). Or consider the constant barrage of offers and begging from those wishing to hand your username over to them. By the way, you read that right, people actually try to bribe users for their usernames: I’ve seen offers from $10 all the way up to $1000. Check out Christian Dalonzo, one of, I’m sure, the many users that suffers from the barrage I am speaking of; heck, check out my Instagram, too. I find this crazy; why is it so important to have a particular username? I could totally understand a brand buying a username because it correlates to their name; that, to me, makes sense. A random just plain average or maybe even geek user would even try to or want to buy out a username for any sum of money I really am not sure of the reason why they would do so.

And, in more recent news, hackers have been targeting users with these vanity usernames, locking them out of important, financially-based accounts, such as their PayPal accounts or their domain registrars, and holding such accounts hostage until the person releases their username.

This makes me think about companies that control these usernames: Twitter, Instagram, Vine, or any other new start-up you could possibly think of. Do they help those who have had their usernames stolen, hijacked, or blackmailed to give them up? I guess as long as we have to have a “username” somewhere on the web instead of just using our name, this will always be a problem. I’m just interested to see what companies try to do to correct this problem.