Be notified by Twitter when your desired username becomes available!

• My company has dozens of Twitter accounts, most of which I manage directly. We are always looking to pick-up usernames that we can brand more effectively. However, many are already taken by others or just sit inactive. Is there a service I can use to monitor when/if these usernames become available?

Answer: In January 2010, there was initially talk of Twitter releasing a backlog of usernames that have sat dormant for months (even years). However, as of the publication of this byte, Twitter is still NOT releasing inactive usernames.

Twitter's policy on inactive usernames can be found here and states the following:

"To keep your account active, be sure to log in and Tweet (i.e., post an update) within 6 months of your last update. Accounts may be permanently removed due to prolonged inactivity."

A little lower on the same page, Twitter states the following regarding the eventual disposition of inactive usernames:

"We are currently working to release all inactive usernames in bulk, but we do not have a set time frame for when this will take place."

It's pretty surprising to those of us here at Search Engine News who are active Twitter users that this policy has not yet been implemented. All we can do is hope that 2011 provides some movement on the issue since there exist literally tens of thousands of inactive and deleted Twitter usernames that have been locked-up for years. The release of these names would really signify a virtual "gold rush" of sorts for Twitter users, so it is a policy shift that would bring much fanfare to social users.

In the meantime, we do have a monitoring suggestion for you which may provide the best chance of "sn...