Unless you have excellent foresight, or managed to be one of those lucky people to get your real name on Twitter, you've probably entertained the idea of changing your Twitter ID at some point. I'll explain how you can do this without losing your followers.

Consider first

Changing Twitter IDs can be a risky process. You risk confusing followers, missing messages, and possibly damaging your hard-earned reputation.

But then again, changing your branding on Twitter could gain more followers, better position yourself in your market, and make more sense for your current and future endeavors.

This process is really easy, but keep in mind that you'll have to keep doing cleanup and monitoring for a long time. Just think about how many people still call the “siffy” channel “Sci-Fi.”

Grab the ID early

Make sure the Twitter ID you want to use is actually available. Take it! You don't want someone else to grab it while you prepare or announce your change. We'll call this @NewName.

Warn your followers ahead of time

If you change your twitter ID without warning anyone, people will start wondering, “Who is this person? And how did I start following them? Why am I still following them?”

And remember that a single Tweet won't do. Take a week or so and Tweet at different times throughout the day. Let your followers know what your new ID will be, but that they won't have to do anything to remain your followers.

Change Twitter IDs

Let's assume you have two Twitter IDs: @OldName and @NewName.

1. Login to @NewName and visit your account settings.
2. Change the username to “TEMPName” (or anything at this point).
3. Logout of Twitter.
4. Login to @OldName and visit your account settings.
5. Change the username to “NewName.”
6. Logout of Twitter.
7. Login again to @TEMPName and visit your account settings.
8. Change the username to “OldName.”
9. Logout of Twitter.
10. Login again as your normal account, which is now @NewName.

Tweet from your old account

There will always be links to your old Twitter ID. To make sure people follow your new account, I recommend that you:

1. Change the profile name to “Follow @NewName.”
2. Keep the profile picture.
3. Write a bio to redirect people to @NewName, but make sure you acknowledge that they found you (and not someone else they were looking for).
4. Delete all Tweets (optional) and make one Tweet to tell visitors to follow @NewName instead.

Monitor Tweets to your old account

No matter how hard you work on this process, people will still direct message and mention your old account. Use a good Twitter client to login to your @OldName so you can receive these messages, but reply from @NewName and remind them of your change.

Don't change your picture for a while

Changing your ID will confuse some people. But changing your profile picture will completely confuse your followers and may cause people to unfollow you.

For as long as possible, keep your profile picture and name the same as they were before the switch.

Remind followers that you've changed

Every now and then, Tweet to remind followers what your old ID was and that you're using the new one. Don't do this too often, but maybe once every few days.

You're a new person!

And you've done it! You switched Twitter IDs and didn't lose all your followers, lose your position in lists, and hopefully didn't confuse everyone.

If you change your Twitter ID, please let me know how it goes!