Last week I made a big decision: to change my Twitter name (or 'handle' - although I dislike using words like that as they can exclude people who aren't 'in the know').

Why is it a big deal?

I'd been thinking about it for a while, but I dreaded doing it - mostly because my Twitter name @eggboxrobin was also the one I have adopted across the social web. I've been @eggboxrobin since I joined Twitter nearly 5 years ago (April 2007); it represents me not only on other social networks but also on hundreds of comments on other blogs, on profile pages, on stationery, in my email signature and probably plenty of other places I haven't yet thought about.

Why I chose @eggboxrobin in the first place

When people ask me about choosing a Twitter name (should it be a company name? a personal name?) I generally say that if there's to be more than one tweeter on behalf of an organisation or company, then it's fine to use the organisation's name - particularly advisable if the tweeter is an employee who could leave at any time. I would still advise organisations to state who is tweeting on their behalf, rather than leaving it anonymous, if they want people to follow and interact with them.

But for individuals, even if they are trading under a business name, then tweeting under your personal name, or a combination of personal name + business name (as in eggboxrobin) works well.

Things are changing...

In my own case, five years on, I am headed in a different direction than I was when I first opted for @eggboxrobin. I am doing more consultancy work now, rather than selling services. Whereas before I would bring in freelance help and suppliers to help deliver a service, all under my company name, these days I am working more in partnership with clients who are paying for my unique experience/expertise/collaboration rather than sourcing a service from a supplier. I need people to know and recognise my name. So I've decided to go back to using my full (personal) name, plain and simple - @RobinHoughton.

How I did it

Thankfully, when I started on Twitter I also signed up for an account in my real name - @RobinHoughton. I never used this name, but on the profile page I explained that I tweeted as @eggboxrobin. I also protected my account, so it didn't pick up any spammy followers or have any history. I'm very pleased I'd claimed my name early on, as there are now other Robin Houghtons on twitter, and I'd be crushed if I had to be @RobinHoughton238 or whatever!

Anyway - so now, I could have just started using this account, BUT it would have meant losing all my @eggboxrobin history. So instead I did a swap.

On the day I made the change, I first changed the @RobinHoughton account to @RobinEHoughton, so freeing up the name I wanted. Then I hotfooted it over to @eggboxrobin and changed it to @RobinHoughton. Finally, I changed @RobinEHoughton to @eggboxrobin, and changed the profile to explain that I was now tweeting as @RobinHoughton. (Sounds much more complicated than it was - the whole process took only a couple of minutes!)

So - change completed. Then the work began - telling people on Twitter about the change, changing my Twitter profile, changing my Twitter name on my website, blog, LinkedIn and Google+ profiles and so forth. I've actually still got a lot more references to @eggboxrobin that need amending, but I'll get around to them soon enough I hope.

Tweetdeck carried on showing me all my columns, despite the name change. But it was no longer picking up @eggboxrobin mentions, so I had to create a new column so I could keep track of any @ mentions after the changeover.

The reaction to the change from my Twitter friends was very interesting - surprise, curiosity, congratulations, but all positive. It feels like the start of something new - very appropriate for the new year!

Robin Houghton is a marketer & writer based in Lewes, East Sussex. Under the business name Eggbox Marketing I advise, consult & speak on social media & online marketing, which I've been doing for 12 years.

www.eggblogg.co.uk