Tweexchange is one of those ideas we’ve all thought about but never implemented. Set up a marketplace for people to buy and sell Twitter handles? Brilliant! But troublesome. The concept behind Tweexchange is technically against Twitter’s Terms of Service, but that didn’t stop the company from launching and quickly spreading the word about its new service.
Go to Tweexchange and you’ll see all sorts of names that have been made available for sale (or exchange, rather). You can also view the Twitter handles that have already been exchanged, along with the price paid. At the very least, it’s interesting to see the economy that’s being created around Twitter handles, moth metaphorically and in actuality. Tweexchange bets the question, what’s the true value of a Twitter profile?
First, let’s talk about why Twitter handles are important in the first place.
- Twitter is a rapidly growing site
- Twitter is being used by many celebrities, brands and public persona Streaming updates through
- Twitter is the new “thing” as far as building one’s brand (personal or professional)
So why the big deal about a Twitter handle? They’re simple. Just like a web URL, one’s Twitter handle needs to be short and easy to remember. An idea Google should look into for its recently launched Profiles.
This is particularly important for Twitter as it’s a heavily used mobile application. Sending mentions (formerly known as @replies), direct messages, or requesting the most recent updates from a particular user are all things that can be done via SMS on one’s mobile phone. So making a Twitter handle easy to remember and simple to type with a cell phone keyboard is central to engaging others in the Twitter community.
I learned this the hard way when my initial Twitter username sported an underscore (Kristen_Nicole), which isn’t the easiest symbol for my Twitter friends to type from their mobile phone. By the time Twitter got popular enough for me to begin paying attention to my account, the Twitter handle KristenNicole was already taken. Now I’m stuck with @KristenNicole2.
So what will Twitter do about Tweexchange and others like it? Rumors have been spread abut Twitter making money off of brands seeking Twitter handles. This merely begs the question, should Tweexchange’s concept be implemented by Twitter itself rather than a third party? Tweexchange isn’t the first to make money as a parasitic third party application, benefiting from Twitter’s growth and popularity. So in the end, where will this all take us?