What Twitter Can Learn From My 7th Grade Email Address
The first time I got email was in seventh grade. I was so excited. I spent hours debating what my first email address would be. If I was going to have an email address for the rest of my life, I had to make it good.
After much thought, I came up with the perfect name… Drishdog@hotmail.com (Obviously, I was a very cool 7th grader.)
Then 9th grade rolled around. And I realized that my email address just wasn’t cutting it… I mean, I was in high school now. And “drishdog” was just soooo not cool. But do you know what was cool? ”Drishdogg” was cool. Because having two “G’s” makes you seem like a rebel. Or something.
Then I got to college… and I learned that virtually every career advice book says to get an email address that uses your name (and doesn’t have the word “dogg” in it.) So I finally grew up. I ditched the old email addresses and went with what’s simple: andy [dot] drish [at] gmail.com
Ever since then, almost every login name I’ve created is some version of andy.drish.
So can someone please explain to me why so many people change their Twitter handle to something other than their name? It’s so annoying. As I talk with people, I begin to know them by their Twitter handle. And then we’ll meet each other in person at a Tweetup or something and I’ll completely blank on their first name. Which makes me feel like a jerk.
I understand that your name might be taken. Or you don’t want to reveal your entire identity. Or you’re representing your company. But c’mon… Can’t you throw your first name in there somewhere?
Or at least explain your logic to me.
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You just hit my pet peeve on the head! It was a bad day for me when I had to add a number to my email address bc someone else out there was sharing my name without asking my permission. But, especially with Twitter, I appreciate people using their real names bc I feel like whats the point of connecting to all these virtual strangers if I can’t even know what their real friends call them? Great post!
@Krys - Thanks for the comment! It’s a huge pet peeve of mine as well. I bet when career advice books start incorporating chapters on “Twitter etiquette,” the first piece of advice will be to use a simple login name.
Great post…I totally agree with this. Luckily I’ve been consistent since about 8th grade with usernames and passwords. In about 6th grade, my email address was fulgore222@comcast, quite the innapropriate name to most. To me, I named it after my favorite character in a super nintendo fighting game, Killer Instinct. Thank god we grow up
Using your real name on the internet (or at least part of it) is still a new trend. A lot of people are afraid of it. Until very recently–one or two years ago– it was still very uncommon for most people to use their real names at all. You can probably thank Facebook and its growing population for changing that.
But yes. Now that times have changed, I wish people would catch up.
@Steve - We do grow up… but i still love nintendo.
lol
@Cat - I remember when my parents didn’t want me to have my last name anywhere on the internet. How times have changed…
As someone who has a “cool” name as his Twitter name, this is something I have thought about extensively. My Twitter name came from my stage name when I was in a band and when I created my account that is what I was using it for. Now that I have for the most part grown out of that persona, its been up in the air whether to change it or not. I still use the moniker for my vlogs and occasionally use it for shows and speaking sessions locally.
I agree that names that have no bearing on your personal or professional career are no longer acceptable, in fact I preach that. If you are going to use a name like that at least have the decency to give some great info in your bio, provide a non Myspace link and a picture of the real you so people can learn who you are.
Andy,
Hilarious. I agree. My twitter name was Moni247, which also happened to be my oh-so-cool AOL screenname from 8th grade! I changed it a couple months in (thank goodness Twitter allows that) because Twitter is a place for personal branding.
Thanks for the tip!
Most people’s names are too long - my full name would be far too long and even if Rebecca weren’t taken, I think that’s too long. I like short handles on Twitter. Interestingly enough, I didn’t even check if Rebecca was actually taken until now. I always knew it would be modite.
I think the only reason I chose “MelonCamp” ’cause it’s a login I use for some things, but I didn’t know it’d be my handle when I signed up. Then I just never bothered to change it.
@Greg - @G_Ro seems to work you. Since it’s basicaly your initials, i’ve never had a problem remembering it.
@Monica - Classic AOL screen name. Lol.
@Rebecca - I didn’t think about name length… Good point.
@Milena - I’ve gotta be honest… your name was one that confused me for a while. I think it was because your blog had one name and your twitter was another. I could never seem to keep them straight. I’ve got it down now though.