After Domain Squatting, Twitter Squatting

carusoj writes "Squatting on domain names is nothing new, but Twitter has created a new opportunity for squatters, in the form of Twitter IDs. Writes Richard Stiennon: 'Is there evidence of Twitter squatting (squitting?) Let's check. Yup, every single-letter TwitID is taken ... How about common words? Garage, wow, war, warcraft, Crisco, Coke, Pepsi, Nike, and Chevrolet are all taken. My guess is that Twitter squatters have grabbed all of these in the hopes that they will be worth selling in the not too distant future. Of course the legitimate holders of brands can sue for them and Twitter can just turn them over if asked. But, because the investment and risk for the squatter is zero, you are going to see the rapid evaporation of available Twitter IDs.'"

Comments

Can't say I ever used Twitter

[OverlordQ]

So this is pretty much like every other social networking site where you have to pick a username?

Re:Can't say I ever used Twitter

[eln]

It's as if someone said, "You know, I like MySpace, but the blog posts there just aren't inane enough. I wish there was a site where people could quickly and easily share every minute of their boring lives with the world."

Re:Can't say I ever used Twitter

[causality]

So this is pretty much like every other social networking site where you have to pick a username?

Yes, Twitter is just one of the most trendy social networking sites right now so people are falling over themselves to act like the squatting of (or competition for) unique IDs in a limited namespace is somehow a new concept. Once you understand the simple concept, the specific application (be it domain names, Twitter usernames, etc) is mere trivia and doesn't really explain anything new but it passes for news. Refer to Henry David Thoreau's take on "the news" to get a better idea of where I'm coming from.

Because Twitter is very trendy right now, in a few months people will probably stop talking about it as though old and well-known concepts are somehow different when applied to the site. Hell, if it's like a lot of trends, then it's possible that in a few months or so many people will not seem to know what you're talking about if you mention it, or they will speak of it like a vague memory.

I should say that I'm all for using Twitter or any other site if you want to and especially if you enjoy it. What I am speaking against is the tendency to make a big deal out of nothing, to attach novelty and significance to events that are actually predictable and trivial.

Re:Can't say I ever used Twitter

[Anonymous Coward]

12:45 - gotta take a piss

12:53 - Holy fuck! Barack Obama was taking a shit in the bathrroom

12:54 - he forgot to flush

12:56 - fap fap fap

Re:Can't say I ever used Twitter

[v1]

who says you can't still get a short username?

Re:Can't say I ever used Twitter

[dintech]

The poster also forgot that not that many people actually care about twitter.

Re:Can't say I ever used Twitter

[Anonymous Coward]

4:07PM EST - Regret reading your comment

Re:Can't say I ever used Twitter

[causality]

There is a protocol to handle this already, and Twitter could've easily used it instead of randomly handing people whatever username came to mind.

To be honest with you, I'm glad that OpenID or something like it has not taken off. I personally like the "chaotic Internet" where one login credential is entirely separate from another and it's up to me to keep track of them. Keeping up with them is a very tiny burden, I do it gladly, and there are plenty of good tools that make it a breeze. To me, the convenience of a system like OpenID is either non-existant or insignificant, while the privacy implications of not only making it easy to profile my browsing but also of doing most of the profiling work myself are severe. I'm sure that the proponents of OpenID have a long list of reasons why I should not worry about privacy implications, but I'm just not buying it. Once personal data is centralized, it has a nasty tendency to stay that way. That kind of accurate, self-managing, neatly profiled data is a marketer's wet dream.

I'm one of those strange people who does things based on principle and a concept of whether this is really the best solution. So, for example, I block trackers like Google-analytics despite any argument or any evidence which demonstrates that it's really rather harmless. Why? Because I never signed any document or made any agreement giving any entity the right to track me and profile me. Personally, I need no other reason to make such tracking as difficult as possible, so I often laugh when I see the subject come up from time to time and I see all of these intricate arguments about what is and is not tracked and why you should or shouldn't worry about it. To me those are needless complications of what is actually a very simple issue. I assume that everyone has the right to privacy and that any entity which tries to reduce a user's privacy (no matter how benign the stated reason may be) without full disclosure and the express consent of that user is acting like an invasive force and that refusing to go along with it is only right and proper. Isn't that so much easier than all of these rationalizations for why we should accept the loss of privacy as though it were some inevitable landmark along the path of human progress? Beware of the motivations of anyone who wants you to believe that; they either have an agenda or a victim mentality and neither one is any good.

So back to OpenID. The advantage: one-stop management of many online accounts. The disadvantage: yet more centralization of private data and an increased ease with which it could be disclosed (intentionally or otherwise). I will be harshly honest -- I think there is something seductive about promises of convenience and reduced effort (especially for things which are already very easy) and I likewise think that there is something cowardly about people who value such promises more than they value their own freedom and privacy. I am not referring to you personally with that sentence, but rather to the large numbers of people who will gladly trade what is priceless in exchange for what has a price and sincerely believe that they have found a bargain.

Re:Can't say I ever used Twitter

[Oktober Sunset]

Tweet: Replied to guy on Slashdot, did not agree.

Re:Can't say I ever used Twitter

[Ihmhi]

He's a Twitter Shitter!

Re:This would assume that Twitter was worth a damn

[Serenissima]

I think one of the tags for this story says it all... "whocares"

Re:Who cares?

[Kozar_The_Malignant]

Fuck.

Sorry, that's taken already.

got that right

[stoolpigeon]

this is why my entire retirement plan consists of the thousands of facebook and myspace accounts that I have created.

Re:got that right

[corbettw]

You think that's speculative? My entire retirement plan revolves around putting money into a 401(k) and an IRA, and I'm heavily invested in blue chip stocks and index funds. Now that's playing footloose and fancy free with the future!

Re:got that right

[pcolaman]

You should be modded informative for certain.

Squitting?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is twitter squatting squitting and not twatting?

Slashdot, too

[cerberusss]

What's pretty funny, is that this is the same on Slashdot. For instance I tried a few car brands and these all exist and have extremely low UIDs:
http://slashdot.org/~mercedes
http://slashdot.org/~ferrari
http://slashdot.org/~ford
http://slashdot.org/~fiat

But also
http://slashdot.org/~tefal
http://slashdot.org/~aga
http://slashdot.org/~farber
exists so we have a few happy chef-cooks here as well :-)

Re:Slashdot, too

[pcolaman]

Most slashdot users would pull a groin muscle if they tried to squat.

Still, its a great excuse

[tpjunkie]

to use the term "twatter" or "twating" which I find much more hilarious than "squitting"

Re:Still, its a great excuse

[uncledrax]

I'm some random /. reader, and I approve the preceding message.

Yep.

[Wolfger]

Chrysler recently announced they were on Twitter, but the name was ChryslerCom or something like that. Squatters beat them to their own name. That's the problem with unique usernames, though. I mean, say your name (because your parents are insensitive clods) actually *is* Chevy... Should you be prevented from being "Chevy" online because a car company holds a trademark on that name? Is it really fair for the courts to just take something away from you and give it to a rich corporation?

Huh?

[MahariBalzitch]

How is this comparable to domain name squatting? Is a Twitter ID really as important as a domain name?

Scientific

[qoncept]

What a wonderful "study." Check a bunch of names that you randomly presume would be desirable, find they are taken, and then assume their use isn't legit.

I'm trying to find a way to tie my hatred of the very concept of twitter in to this but I can't, so I'll just make it a seperate statement.

Squat before someone else does

[uncledrax]

I love how TFA suggests you go out and shot-gun register anything associated with your brand.

in short.. he's saying you should fight squatting by squatting it first.

Gotta love that.

Twitter singularity

[matt me]

Twitter has problems with downtime. Aas the number of users has grown (approximately exponentially, until approaching saturation), so has downtime.

In 2011, twitter downtime will surpass 365 days per year.

viral marketing

[owlnation]

This is the 3rd piece of viral marketing from the Twitter jerks in as many days.

Twitter jerks, we all know you are desperate. But understand this: your train has sailed. We know you are desperate to be bought out by some large company like Myspace was. It is NOT going to happen for you. The credit crunch makes that certain. Plus your crappy site never stays up more than 24 hours in a row. It's time to give up. Or at least SHUT UP, and stop spamming this site with marketing crap disguised as articles.

Re:viral marketing

[tholomyes]

I came into this thread for the snark, but I stayed for the insight.

TWITTER SQUATTING!

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Now legal in 12 states, between consenting adults!

Maybe yours is next?

[Ob Penny Arcade]

[traycerb]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/4/23/