Qwikster Twitter Account Owner Wants to Sell for Thousands of Dollars

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It’s a classic lesson in branding that Netflix seems to have forgotten. In their haste to announce the Qwikster spin-off, the company failed to cover all its bases in terms of branding, with the Qwikster name already in use in Twitter.

In the online world, the name says it all, which is why good domain names can sometimes come at a premium, with some names fetching millions of dollars in the aftermarket. Social networking names are not so different, and with some users being quicker to the draw in signing up, other legitimate users are left to settle for alternatives — such as by adding prefixes or suffixes to their name.

Just the other day, Jason Castillo, who owns the @Qwikster Twitter account was a virtual unknown, with only a few dozen followers. After the Netflix announcement, the account got a deluge of messages and thousands of new followers. Now, Castillo wants monetary compensation in exchange for the name.

Netflix could have done it differently. They could have quietly tried to acquire all related names prior to making an announcement that they were spinning off their DVD rental business into a new brand. They could have made the exchange for a few hundred or thousand dollars, and everyone would have been happy. (This writer, for one, has sold a premium domain for a small sum before.) But they had to wait until the value of the brand had shot up. Now Castillo wants to negotiate for a bigger amount, and won’t let go of the account until he’s sure he’s “making bank.”

Unfortunately, Twitter’s Name Squatting Policy prevents the sale of usernames, although arguably Castillo had every right to own the name as it had not previously been trademarked. But as “attempts to sell, buy, or solicit other forms of payment in exchange for usernames are also violations,” the account might be suspended if either party tries to pursue a sale, or at least if this is done publicly.

Perhaps Netflix could settle for something else, such as TheQwikster, QwiksterDVD, TheRealQwikster, or something to that effect. Unfortunately, it seems these names are already taken, but are likely to be name-squatted.