How To Change Your Twitter Username And Keep Your Followers

How To Change Twitter Username And Screen Name

Yes, you can change your Twitter username and screen name.

It is smart marketing to have both a personal profile and a professional page on Facebook, but what about Twitter?

Do you have one Twitter account that you are using for both personal and business?

Would you like to choose another name now that better suits your professional profile?

How to change your Twitter username and screen name

There are lots of reasons you might want to change the Twitter handle (profile URL) you use to align more with your current marketing aims.

But you don’t need to start all over again in gaining new followers from zero with a new Twitter account.

You can keep your current account, and it will not affect your existing followers, direct messages or replies, and all your Tweets.

Changing your username is a far better solution than opening a new account.

You can change both your username (@username) and your name (Fred Smith) on existing accounts without losing your hard-won followers.

Yes, a complete change of identity, but still retaining all your followers, posts, and photos.

I have used this change of identity facility in the past to rename an established Twitter account from an older book title to a newly released title.

By doing this, I kept all my followers, which numbered around 10k, so it gave me a great launching platform for my new book. I did it again a year or so later with another account for another new book and kept around 20k followers.

Oddly enough, the drop-off rate of followers after a change of name is negligible.

Unlike other social media platforms, Twitter is unique in offering the ability to change your identity with ease. It makes it an ideal solution for authors who publish under a pen name.

 

How to change your names – step by step

These instructions are for Twitter on a desktop, but you can make the same changes on the different versions of the Twitter mobile app.

 

1. Access the edit profile settings

Log in to your Twitter account settings and go to your profile page. Then click on the edit profile button on the right.

Twitter edit profile button

 

2. Change your screen name and appearance

You will now be on the edit screen, where you can make a lot of changes.

Change Twitter display or screen name

 

Arrow number 1. The button lets you upload a new header photo. Twitter recommends an image size of 1500px by 500px.

Arrow number 2. Here you can change your profile icon (profile photo). Twitter recommends an image size of 400×400 pixels for your profile picture.

Arrow number 3. This is the important button. Here is where you can change your screen name, or as Twitter calls it, your display or screen name.

Your display name can be up to 50 characters long. It is the name people will see at the top of your Tweets.

Arrow number 4. In the three text boxes, you can change your Twitter bio, location, and website address. If you want to, you can also add your birthday.

Arrow number 5. Once you have added or changed all your information, click to save your changes.

 

3. How to change your Twitter username

Now to change @name on Twitter, which is your @username and can be used as a clickable link.

Select your profile, then click the More button.

Select your profile then More

Here is what you will see when you click the More button.

More screen settings and privacy

Click on Settings and Privacy.

Account information

Click on Account Information.

Password prompt

You will need to confirm your password before you can continue. Then click Confirm.

Once you click, you will see this screen.

Account information username

Click the arrow.

Change twitter username

 

Once you are here, you can change your Twitter username or @name.

Click into the username field, and you can change your name. There is a limit of 15 characters.

If the new name you select is already taken, you will be prompted to choose another one.

You might need to be a little creative to get a new name that suits you, but you’ll get there.

Once you get the green light from Twitter for your new username, you are ready to go with your new Twitter identity and username next to your profile.

 

Summary

You might want to think about your promotional strategy on Twitter and make sure you keep your personal and professional tweets separate.

But whatever your plan, it is reassuring to know that you can change your profile and name at any time and still keep all of your followers.

The only limitation is that you can only change your Twitter name once every 60 days. But I doubt you would do it more than once.

Good luck with your marketing on Twitter, whoever you are now!

Note: This article has been updated from an earlier version.

 

Related Reading: How to use Twitter for authors.

6 thoughts on “How To Change Your Twitter Username And Keep Your Followers”

  1. Hi! So quick question, when you say that you can only change your Twitter name every 60 days, you mean the “main” name.. not the @name.. correct? Because I’ve been trying to figure out how to get my name off of the main page, and I just changed the @name slightly to see if that would work.. but it obviously didn’t. (I didn’t know for sure if it was the main name or not, or the username that would change.) But I have no option at all on my Iphone from what I can tell to change my main name. I’ve tried everything. I’m going to try what you’ve said on my laptop and see if that works.. fingers crossed! I never use this app so I’m not familiar with it at all.. but I need to get it updated for my new company, and I don’t want my name on there. Wish me luck! Thanks for the info!!

    1. When I wrote the article, I checked with Twitter, and it applied to both names. But I have seen a new note on Twitter Help saying that there is now no limit. So you should be fine.

  2. Is there more up to date accurate info on how to change your username on twitter? The steps here are no longer valid….or is one no longer allowed to do this? I went into the “back office” into settings and tried there and there is nothing showing the option to change one’s username…neither in the app or on their website? Confused.

    1. I think it’s still a similar process, but you now need to use the “More” button, then your Account, then Account Information.

      I’ll take a closer look and update this post when I get a chance.

  3. Great info! What happens to your old @? Does it now become “up for grabs” with a clean slate of 0 followers?
    Thanks for your help!

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