Twitter screen names aren't immutable -- they can be changed over time. Does anyone know if an old tweet references a screen name and that screen name changes ownership, does the reference to the screen name change within the old tweet?
Conversation
Replying to
Not that I have seen. This account started life with a different account name, which is why my creation date is way before my first tweet. If you search the old account, you’ll find the old tweets still under the old name. Same user ID.
2
2
Feel free to use my account as a test bed for it if you’d like.
1
Replying to
Is there a limit to the number of times someone can change their screen name in a certain period? I need to look that one up. If Twitter treats user mentions as specific people, then I'd consider this a bug because older tweets can have the associations break.
1
Replying to
Hmmm I may need to look at this again myself, or maybe something has changed. A quick search of the old user name no longer pulls up the tweets under the old user. I’ll search this account once I’m back in front of a machine.
2
1
I think I’ve seen a limit to changes in a time period; even it’s it unwritten I’m sure too many in a certain period of time would raise some red flags. Is it a bug? I could see an argument for either being expected behavior. If I’m getting harassed and change my username,
2
1
Replying to
The way I see it, when you tag someone, you're tagging a person / entitity and not the tag itself -- so if the tag changes ownership and it isn't reflected in previous tweets referencing that entity, it completely changes the context / meaning. But I see your point.
1
1
Replying to
Well, it seems Twitter may not be totally sure given the suggested follows thing. It’s super obvious with this; the prior account almost exclusively followed and interacted with former coworkers. The only suggestions I’ve gotten on this new account for people I know are all from
2
1
Replying to
It would be nice to at least have the behavior defined and documented somewhere.