Twitter was the most flexible, allowing users to change their username and profile url as many times as they like. Facebook had a one-time username change which was good. Myspace states in their FAQ that username/profile url cannot be changed, however due to their latest feature MyspaceMail, a one-time change can be taken advantage of, by creating a MyspaceMail with your new username which updates your profile url. Unfortunately I could not do the same with my accounts on Youtube, Google, Skype, MyOpenID, Steam, DeviantArt etc; a new account had to be created.

The same applies with Delicious. The only workaround they offer is described in their FAQ, to create a new account, export everything from old and import into new. So in that respect, it's not as bad as rebuilding everything from scratch again. But still somewhat of a nuisance.

As I get deeper into the social network and begin to follow more and more people/blogs/delicious accounts/Facebook accounts/ Twitter accounts ad nauseum, I like being able to link what someone is doing in one forum with what they are doing on another network, and that is usually by their name.

Here is a concrete example of handle vs real name. I've been following a person on Twitter that uses a handle. We've been in each others network for a few months, exchanged a few messages and resources. He's been a valuable Twitter connection.

2 weeks ago I got a friend request from someone I have never heard of. If I don't know your name on FB, then I probably am not going to follow you back. So, the friend request sat there for a week and a bit. It wasn't until I did a bit of digging that I realized the person who had sent me the FB friend reuqest was the person I've been following on Twitter for the past few months. If I wouldn't have spent the time trying to track down the friend request, I might never have known that and passed up a possible connection with someone who has been a valuable part of my Twitter network.