(Update below.)

My word. After many moons of campaigning for acquiring this abandoned Twitter handle, I finally scored @deanna. Yes. (If you see a name has not been in use for a long time, you used to be able to ask that it be released into the available pool. I don’t see that option on the help page anymore. And I just looked at the contact page, and it’s not an option anymore. Boo!)

So, I’m looking to change @randomdeanna to @deanna, but I’ve got a lot of questions about this, and want to hear what others think, or what their experiences may have been, when changing names. I know that I’ll keep the followers I have now, and I’ll re-get @randomdeanna so that I can direct people to the new handle.

Pros:

1. Having your first name as your Twitter handle is baller.
2. See #1.

Cons:

1. “randomdeanna” has been part of my online identity for years. I use “randomdeanna” on many other services; worried that people will not use the right one in mentions, etc. This already happens on a regular basis with @deannazandt.
2. See #1.

Your words of wisdom would be most appreciated, dear friends!

UPDATE, 4/20/2012.  I’m going to change it to @deanna after all. Not just because of the baller-ness of having one’s first name, but because it’s also finally time to retire the “random” part of my professional/public persona. (I refuse to use “personal brand,” btw, thanks to what Tara Hunt told me in an interview for my book — “People don’t need personal brands, just personalities!”) When I’d asked some close friends/colleagues for specific advice about all this, it was Baratunde Thurston who pointed out that maybe “random” isn’t the best place for me to stay adjective-wise as I’m on an upward trajectory. I agree.

It was a name I’d chose at random (har har) years ago when signing up for some service, back when it wasn’t okay to even really have innocuous services be attached to your Real Name. Back then, Someone Might Find You on the Internet, which was scary. Now, of course, that’s not as true for most people and services. And while I’ll continue to certainly have a lot of randomness to my personality, getting rid of the “random” moniker also an intentional effort to be more focused in my activities in general. Priorities include: writing, speaking, writing, drawing, writing and more writing.

Thus, I’m going to be changing “randomdeanna” to “deanna,” “deannaz,” and “deannazandt” across a number of services, including this blog, which will be renamed deannazandt.tumblr.com. This will break lots of links, but hopefully I can salvage all that with time and patience. The big switch is happening over the weekend, April 21-22, in part because my astrology says that’s a good time to start new things. Hey, I’m still a little random at heart.