In order to raise revenue, microblogging platform Twitter is now thinking of selling usernames, the New York Times reported. Elon Musk, the CEO of the company, has been finding ways to boost revenue after surging into debt.
The New York Times report stated that the engineers are planning to organize online auctions where people could bid for usernames or their social media handles.
However, it is still uncertain if this way of boosting revenue will turn fruitful or whether it will affect the usernames of everyone or only those who wish to change theirs. The success or potential of the new revenue-boosting method was already discussed last December.
Earlier, the CEO tweeted that the platform would free at least around 1.5 billion social handles and delete inactive accounts on the platform. This was Elon’s foremost resolution after acquiring Twitter — to free up accounts with their own desired usernames.
The buying and sale of usernames are forbidden as per Twitter’s rules on username squatting. Despite these restrictions, it has always been an option to buy desirable Twitter usernames on the illegal market. Hackers have previously been lured to the model of selling attractive usernames.
A youngster was caught in 2020 after sneaking into a social media platform and acquiring well-known usernames to trade. Many well-known people’s profiles were penetrated by the year, including Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and former president Barack Obama.
Twitter announced its auction following Telegram’s announcement to hold an auction for usernames that came up in October, last year. Telegram sought to hold an auction both for private accounts as well as channels via the marketplace of the TON blockchain built on top.
Even since Musk took over the platform, he has been trying to earn revenue after he fell into debt. The company has been running low in revenue as the new CEO, Elon Musk is trying different ways to modify the platform which is receiving quite criticism from the public.
Not only the public but several advertisers and brands have also boycotted the platform and the company is cutting its internal revenue projections.
Over the past months, the company has been making several changes that have affected the overall functioning of the platform. Earlier, the company made plans to lift the ban on political ads to generate revenue.
