{"id":31115,"date":"2025-10-30T07:20:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T06:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/?p=31115"},"modified":"2025-11-11T09:42:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T08:42:25","slug":"x-to-sell-inactive-usernames","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2025\/10\/x-to-sell-inactive-usernames\/","title":{"rendered":"X to Sell Inactive Usernames"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

B2 – Upper Intermediate<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social media is changing how it handles old or unused accounts. One big platform now plans to sell inactive usernames, which has people talking about who really owns a name online, how it affects personal branding, and what it means for digital identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s read the article to find out how this decision might change the way we think about online identity, who owns usernames, and how social media works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/technology\/general\/x-will-start-selling-inactive-usernames-soon\/ar-AA1OPISp?ocid=BingNewsSerp<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vocabulary Questions:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. What is a “handle<\/strong>” in this context? “According to a recent\u00a0post\u00a0on the website formerly known as Twitter, the company will soon start selling \u201chandles<\/strong> that are no longer in use\u201d to paying subscribers.”<\/em> Use it in your own sentence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. What does the word “pithy<\/strong>” mean? “Generally, paid handles will be pithy<\/strong>, one word, \u201cculturally significant names,\u201d like @Pizza or @Tom.”<\/em> Use it in a sentence and give two synonyms.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. What does the idiom “to play it safe<\/strong>” mean? “X\u2019s inactive account policy says that users should log in \u201cat least every 30 days\u201d to keep their accounts active, though, so if you\u2019re concerned about your username being taken, it\u2019s best to play it safe<\/strong>.” <\/em>Use it in a sentence.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Discussion Questions:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. What\u2019s your take on X\u2019s decision to sell unused usernames?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Do you use X? If so, what prompted you to create your account and when did that happen?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. What would make a social media username valuable enough for you to consider paying for it?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. Can you recall a time when your ideal username wasn\u2019t available, how did you handle it?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    5. How do you decide what username to use across different platforms?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      B2 – Upper Intermediate  Social media is changing how it handles old or unused accounts. One big platform now plans to sell inactive usernames, which has people talking about who really owns a name online, how it affects personal branding, and what it means for digital identity. Let\u2019s read the article to find out how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[291,292,289,25,293],"class_list":["post-31115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homework","tag-b2-upper-intermediate","tag-first-certificate-fce","tag-reading","tag-technology","tag-text"],"yoast_head":"\nX to Sell Inactive Usernames | phone english blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2025\/10\/x-to-sell-inactive-usernames\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"X to Sell Inactive Usernames | phone english blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"B2 – Upper Intermediate  Social media is changing how it handles old or unused accounts. 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