Don’t change your username on Twitter
Your tweets not showing up in the Twitter search results?
It might not be due to spamming, but due to a broken “feature”.
Twitter allows you to change your user name to anything else (as long as it isn’t taken). I took advantage of this quite a few months ago to switch from my previous internet handle of @vadavia to my newer and friendlier @limedaring.
Yesterday, I noticed (and subsequently whined) that my user name was not showing up in search. I eventually managed to snag someone who works at Twitter who explained that it was possibly due to a bug when I changed user names. When I asked how to be notified when they’ve fixed this, she said Twitter will announce when they’ve fixed the bug. Seems like it’s not a very big priority to them.
I remembered that Jina Bolton changed her user name awhile back from @sushimonster to @jina, and lo and behold, the same problem.
So, first: if you enjoy using features like hashtags and would like to show up in the Twitter search results, resist changing your user name until Twitter fixes this bug.
Have you already changed your name, and are subsequently annoyed that you’ve been dropped from their results? Since I’ve changed my user name more than six months ago (so the bug probably has occurred since then), I really can’t see Twitter deciding to fix this any faster unless more people are annoyed. You should make a fuss and see if Twitter will put a higher priority on fixing this bug: Submit a help request; bug Twitter employees; write a blog post.
Please Twitter, I want to participate in the conversations that your platform creates and encourages.
I revelled reading it. I require to read more on this issue…I am admiring the time and effort you put in your blog, because it is obviously one great place where I can find lot of reusable info..
Regina WEil says:
Yup, Twitter has made it to the big leagues. Just like Myspace, they no longer give a crap about the millions of users who have made them famous. They are getting all the traffic and the advertising that they want, so why should they care if not everybody gets included in search? That is not contributing to their bottom line. Can anybody think of a good replacement for twitter? There must be a lot of copy cats.
Twitter.com/FireTi says:
Here is a trick that I think may have worked for me. I switched my account to private, and then I switched it back to public. And now everything seems to be working fine again.
Twitter.com/FireTi says:
Switching to private and back also fixed the issue for me.
Jared says:
I need to do an update on the post - I did try switching from private and back, and it didn’t fix anything.
However, I sent a couple (annoyed) emails to Twitter support - they first denied there was anything they could do for me, but after I bugged them, they manually fixed my account (http://search.twitter.com/search?q=from%3Alimedaring ).
So if all else fails, be as annoying as possible. :)
Tracy Osborn says:
I changed my name a while back from @achingtopupate to @beingnobody, and I haven’t shown up in search ever since. It’s incredibly annoying, and what’s even more annoying is that Twitter don’t seem to want to help! I know people have had some success by emailing them, and i know I could do that, but still, their support pages have been so helpful in the past, and for this issue its just a curt ‘You must be a spammer’
I’ve tried switching my account to private and back and that didn’t help either. Maybe I do need to email them…
(I know this post is quite old now, but it came up first on Google when I searched and its reassuring to know that people have fixed this!)
I really like your blog, by the way! :)
Emma says:
Hi Emma! Thanks for the compliment! <3
What really fixed the issue for me was literally being annoying as possible. They would close my help ticket saying there was nothing they could do, and I would reopen it and say that I refuse to go away until it’s fixed.
Here’s what I would do - start or reopen a help ticket. Explain the reasons why search is important to you (I stated that I used hashtags at conferences to “join the conversation” and being excluded from search removed that functionality for just me, essentially making me a 2nd class Twitter citizen), and that you would like it to be fixed. If they close your ticket without doing anything (which they will), reopen the ticket and reiterate your points. Eventually they’ll get tired enough that they’ll just manually fix it for you.
Hope this helps! And good luck!
Tracy Osborn says: