Twitter to remove accounts inactive for 6 months, free up usernames: Report

Micro blogging site Twitter is sending out emails to owners of dormant accounts with a warning to either sign in by December 11 or the account username will be freed.

Twitter users who have not logged in for six months or more will receive the email alert from the company.

"As part of our commitment to serve the public conversation, we're working to clean up inactive accounts to present more accurate, credible information people can trust across Twitter.

"Part of this effort is encouraging people to actively log-in and use Twitter when they register an account, as stated in our inactive accounts policy," a Twitter spokesperson was quoted as saying by The Verge on Tuesday.

The accounts will, however, not be removed at once. The process is said to take place over the course of several months.

As far as bot accounts are concerned, Twitter says they should be safe as long as they are active.

This doesn't just affect people who've abandoned Twitter; it also stands to have an enormous impact on accounts belonging to the deceased, the report added.