The social-networking company wants to be universally known by a new streamlined bird logo, replacing the scruffier bird that had symbolized Twitter since ... well, way back in 2010.
"Starting today you'll begin to notice a simplified Twitter bird," Twitter said in a blog post Wednesday.
"From now on, this bird will be the universally recognizable symbol of
Twitter. (Twitter is the bird, the bird is Twitter.) There's no longer a
need for text, bubbled typefaces, or a lowercase "t" to represent
Twitter."
Twitter gave no reason
for the refreshed bird, which is less chubby, has fewer feathers and is
angled more towards the sky than its predecessor. But jokesters in the
Twittersphere, where #twitterbird was trending Wednesday, were only too
happy to offer some.
"About time we get a simplified #twitterbird That last one was so not 140 characters!" wrote MeetZoe.
"Twitter is too young to be changing its logo. Although, now the bird is soaring," added Andrew Mager.
"The new #twitterbird is the Situation of social media icons. He's all "Gym, Tweet, Laundry. What, Facebook?! Want some?!" said Sam Killermann.
Last year's short-lived Twitter darling, the Bronx Zoo's Cobra, offered this: "Twitter changed its little blue bird logo! He still looks delicious...nice, I mean nice."
And Adam McCombs
may have spoken for many users when he tweeted, "Maybe @twitter should
spend more time working on performance instead of playing with their
logo."
In its post, Twitter
says the new bird is "crafted purely from three sets of overlapping
circles — similar to how your networks, interests and ideas connect and
intersect with peers and friends." In rather flowery rhetoric, the post
goes on to say, "Whether soaring high above the Earth to take in a broad
view, or flocking with other birds to achieve a common purpose, a bird
in flight is the ultimate representation of freedom, hope and limitless
possibility."
The company on Wednesday
was urging developers to switch to the new logo -- although the Twitter
icon in Apple's App Store was still showing the old bird.
