For Matt Slack, Shakespeare’s famous quandary—”What’s in a name?”—could very well be rephrased as “What’s in a Twitter handle?” Spoiler alert: everything.
Allow me to introduce you to Matt Slack, a 38-year-old software engineer hailing from Holland, Michigan, who has taken ownership of the coveted Twitter handle, @slack. Yes, that Slack—the one Salesforce bought for a jaw-dropping $27 billion. Let’s just say Matt might have some interesting conversations at the local bar.
Imagine the surrealism of receiving a personal invite to Slack’s 2019 direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange. It’s like being the designated driver at a liquor store opening. Talk about a wild ride!
Matt Slack casually joined Twitter back in October 2006, a full three years before Slack the company would even grace the world with its presence. So, guess what? The startup had to settle for a slightly confusing handle, @SlackHQ. You know, just in case someone needed directions to the tech unicorn that is Slack. Good luck with that!
In the decade since, Matt has found himself knee-deep in social media’s Slack-centric discussions. When Slack announced its billion-dollar acquisition, Matt couldn’t resist tweeting, “It’s a quiet day,” which was basically the Twitter equivalent of a mic drop. Stewart Butterfield, Slack’s founder, even replied, “I feel like we’ve been on a wonderful adventure together, Matt.” You can picture it: two guys sharing laughs over virtual coffee, bonding over the existential dread of being confused for a tech brand.
“I thought it was really nice of Stewart to say that,” Matt laments, who has exchanged tweets with Slack executives but never actually met them in person—though he’s come impressively close while attending their stock listing last year. The irony is rich; he’s that guy who sits in the front row without even realizing he’s at his own tech-brand-themed meet-and-greet.
On typical days, Matt faces a mere drizzle of mistaken tweets—”fewer than 20,” he claims, which might make him the most popular yet misunderstood person in the Twitterverse. Of course, this number spikes like a teen’s interest in late-night horror flicks when Slack launches new features or gets embroiled in business drama. “Threads” in Slack were like unicorns to users—fabled, desired, and endlessly discussed, until they finally materialized.
Interestingly enough, Slack has never made a bid for the Twitter handle, probably because they were busy sorting their multi-billion-dollar transactions. Matt, on the other hand, has never had any inclination to change his handle. “I’m also the owner of @Slack on Instagram,” he adds, with a tone that screams, “That’s less fun, but I’m still winning!” His Instagram tagline reads, “My username is not for sale. Really. It’s not.” What a power move! “Most tweets are good-natured,” he insists, as if he lives in a Pinterest-perfect Fairytale Kingdom rather than the chaotic land of Twitter. “Unless, of course, I shared a name with a cable company, then things could get a tad incendiary.”
As a knowledgeable software engineer, Matt sometimes morphs into a techno-hero, swooping in to save users from their Slack-related woes. He often fields questions like, “Why did my dashes merge during a wild macOS gaffe?” Picture him, armed with screenshots, ready to share keyboard fixes the way a knight would offer a sword to the unworthy.
In closing, life as the handle @slack has been a cocktail of peculiarity sprinkled with charm. Matt even sends holiday cards to Slack’s office—keeping his fan club status on point. After all, he’s a loyal Slack user, caught in the corporate web just like the rest of us. “My team uses Slack at work,” he adds, “but we might have to transition to Microsoft Teams, which sends chills down my spine. We’re clinging to Slack like a child holding onto their last Lego piece.”
For the record, Slack, the company, did not respond to requests for comment. So, here’s a toast to Matt Slack, who made @slack more entertaining than it has any right to be!
