Nelson Mandela Now Officially on Twitter after Peaceful Handover of Account

Nelson Mandela Foundation is in a jovial mood. They asked for the Twitter handle which was created in August 2008 by Richard Millington. Millington agreed without much problems to hand-over the handle to the Nelson Mandela foundation. The foundation is asking other people holding Twitter accounts with Nelson Mandela’s name to hand them over.

“We are extremely pleased with Mr Millington’s response and we would like to encourage others who hold domains using Nelson Mandela’s name to hand them over to the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory. Please contact us on nmf@nelsonmandela.org should you be the administrator of such a page,” said Sello Hatang, spokesperson for the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory in a Press Release.

There have been some false alarms of the death of Nelson Mandela. The foundation’s presence on Twitter now is welcome for reliable news. The foundation might also be moving to acquire accounts like 46664.

Locally @KTNKenya had to request for the Twitter page from a Kenyan who was holding it. Capital FM is holding this handle while the handle which they should be holding, CapitalFMKenya is held by an individual. Also famous TV show host, Jeff Koinange’s account is being held by someone else while he uses @KoinangeJeff which I think he is satisfied with.

How to Claim Unused Accounts

Twitter has a 9 month rule. That is, if a profile has been inactive for more than 9 months, Twitter release the user name. In cases where the account has never been updated, Twitter can write to the owner of the username about releasing it, but the owner might reject or agree to hand it over.

If you really want to take control of a Twitter handle, this is the process;

1. Email username@twitter.com with the following information:
   

   • The username you want
   • Your existing username, if you have one
   • Whether you want to change your username, or start a new account with the username you’re requesting

2. You will then receive confirmation that the email has been received. Another email will be sent to you asking you to reply with the above  details if you didn’t provide them.
3. You will get response from Twitter on the Progress.

CNN was not so lucky and they had to pay James Cox a good amount of money to take control of @CNNbrk.

Twitter prohibits sale of Twitter handles and name squatting.